


November

by JDBeckett



Series: 365 Prompts [11]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-03-22 09:39:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 41,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3724087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JDBeckett/pseuds/JDBeckett





	1. A Globet of Wine

Cyrille couldn't really recall when he had last celebrated a birthday. His aside that was, the twins had even brought him things, though early and had given them to him. He only knew the date because he had asked them. They'd looked at him for a long moment, puzzled at his desire to know when they would celebrate their birthday and they had told him.

Of course, there had been a long explanation as to the fact that they'd never really celebrated, it had never been more than a good morning hug, birthday wishes and, if they'd been lucky, a bit of candy or a cupcake though those had been a little rarer.

He had no intention of really going out of his way to celebrate them since he didn't imagine they might feel comfortable with that but still. It didn't help that their birthdays fell on a weekday, it made celebrations need to be a little more simplified.

Somewhere over the weekend, Agni had wandered off, disappeared for a while, not really saying where he might have been wandering off to. They let him, knowing better than to ask too many questions. Several hours later, when he did come home, he looked over his shoulder before stepping inside and asked Cyrille if he could keep Mira occupied somewhere and preferably in his room so he could come in with whatever it was he had bought.

Cyrille had agreed to it and had lured Mira into the furthest off bedroom to check on some invisible thing he thought he'd 'lost' somewhere. Once Agni had brought in whatever it was he had bought and had looked into that last bedroom with a 'what are you doing?' Cyrille had dropped the game and mumbled that he would just buy a new barbell since they couldn't find his old one.

  


That very morning, he drove the twins and Armin to the library, telling them that he'd pick them up once the day was over though it was likely he'd join them by late afternoon. He came back home, setting out just some basic decorations and then settled in the kitchen for some cooking. At first he had thought of baking them a cake but baking really was not his forte so he settled on cooking. He prepared a meal of boeuf bourguignon, having bought a bottle of red wine just for that. The recipe left him with a single cup worth and he decided he would split it in three. He was more than aware that the twins had only turned seventeen but he figured that a third of a cup of red wine wouldn't really kill anyone.

Once the food was on a low heat setting in the crockpot—he felt somewhat safer leaving the crockpot to cook by itself than he did leaving something without someone to look it over in the oven—he located his coat once more and stepped back outside. He had to stop somewhere, find each of them a slight gift of sorts and then find a cake. The cake seemed to be the most important part of it all and he wanted to be sure it was perfect.

He knew, deep down, that he should have thought of the cake before the day itself but he didn't know how he would have really gotten his hands on it without the twins knowing about it at all. They didn't really have any empty space to put the cake in where they wouldn't have noticed it.

  


With the cake in the car and two small gifts wrapped up, he drove back home, dropped these off, checked in on their meal, stirred it lightly and then went back to the library to help them with what little was left of their day.

Despite that work had been done for the heating in the old building, the place was uncomfortably cool at this point in the year so instead of shedding his coat and scarf, he only hung up his coat, keeping his scarf secure around his throat. He was glad for the long-sleeved shirt he wore underneath. He couldn't quite see his breath when he exhaled but it wasn't far from that point and he was surprised to see any patrons at all in the place.

The last few hours went by without a single incident. They all settled into the car and Cyrille took them back home. They waited until Armin had disappeared into his apartment before they started up the stairs. It had become something close to habit to make sure the man was in his apartment before they went anywhere, not much different from waiting for someone to step into their home when you dropped them off.

As they walked up the stairs, Cyrille stretched, wondering if he should just tell the twins about the little mock-surprise or not. He settled on not, wanting to let them discover the small little things. He hadn't done much, just a few balloons in the living room and their meals.

Agni stepped into the apartment first, blinked at the small bits of decorations and he laughed, the sound clear and bright. Mira peered over his brother's shoulder, curious as to the reason for his sudden laughed. He blinked and chuckled, his head shaken somewhat. "That is adorable."

That was a good start! At least, that was what Cyrille told himself as he took their coats and hung them up. He figured he could play mock-butler for the rest of the evening, they deserved at least that much.

"I didn't know what to get you guys but I did get each of you a small something, you'll be able to unwrap them after dinner and dessert. The meal is in the crockpot and it should be ready in a couple of hours more," and it smelled divine! "and I even got you guys a cake, I hope you'll like it."

"You went out of your way." Mira's words were awed as he stepped into the kitchen, breathing in deeply. "This smells so absolutely wonderful."

"I just tried to show you guys that a birthday can be celebrated without going completely overboard, is all." 

Agni had disappeared into his room and was now coming back out with a huge black box on wheels. It was hard to know what it might have been but it looked heavy. Mira blinked at him then blinked up at the single bow sitting atop the box. "I know Cyrille said we'd only open our presents after dessert and I'm fine with that but I wanted to bring this thing out in the open. Might as well have the presents in the same area so we're not running all over the place."

Mira's yes were still wide, unbelieving. This thing, whatever it was, was big. He felt somewhat uncomfortable by the small size of the box he pulled out of his pocket, setting it on the kitchen counter along with Cyrille's own.

  


After dinner was had and wine sipped at, boxes were brought out.

"I know my gift is really small and I feel like I should have gotten something bigger but when I saw it, I thought of you and I thought you might really want it." Mira's voice was quiet, uncertain as he pushed the slight box toward his brother.

Agni reached for it, curling his fingers around it. "Mira, I didn't buy you that gift because of its size, I bought you that gift because I thought you'd really like it."

With those words, he opened the slight box. Inside, sitting on soft padding, was a necklace with a slight rod at the end. On one side of the rod there were two stones embedded. One deeply red, the other a beautiful clear-ocean blue. Agni smiled, a sigh of contentment escaping him as he pulled the necklace from the box and hook it about his neck. It fell just so a little below his collarbones. 

"I love it, Mira, that is absolutely gorgeous." He motioned towards the huge box however, a sheepish grin to his lips. "I do hope you like this gift. I recall how you seemed to want to reach out and touch when Magali showed us hers." Mira blinked at his brother's words. He moved toward the box, looking it over. He found two latches and eased them open before he was opening the box itself. There, inside, a harp. It was nearly bigger than him and he knew it was very likely a lot heavier than him.

He stood speechless, his eyes wide and wet at the sight of something so beautiful. 

"I know just the person to teach you how to play this instrument, too, I bet they'd be pretty happy to meet someone new." Cyrille chuckled as Mira launched himself at his brother, hugging him fiercely. He pushed the two identical boxes towards the twins and once they parted, they each took one. There was nothing on them to state one was for one particular twin and the other for the other.

Inside, as they opened it, a pair of matching bracelets. Simple in designs, no extras to them, not even decorative stones. Two simple bracelets that could be worn with just about anything and everything. It was the thought that counted and it was what mattered to him. He had wanted them to enjoy their evening and he knew it had been enjoyed.


	2. Growing Love

"I think that what we have here is a case of love-hate relationship. Those always start pretty slow but the moment you get them going, they kinda grow exponentially until one side takes over. At least that's my experience with that. I honestly hated tap-dancing when I started but eventually it sorta grew on me. Now I love it and I wouldn't really want to go back in time and change my mind." Cyrille shrugged gently, watching Mira a moment as the latter sucked on his fingers a little. The teen really was trying a little too hard with the harp, especially with no idea at all as to what he was doing. 

At the very least he hadn't tried to fling the heavy thing away, he'd merely gotten up from the little bench his brother had bought along with the instrument and he'd walked away. Agni had decided to retire to his room, put his headphones on and had turned to one of his games. It spoke poorly of his desire to 'endure' his brother as Mira discovered the secrets of the harp.

Cyrille simply smiled lightly at the younger teen, offering him a moist towel for his fingers. Mira took it with a sigh as he looked back to the instrument. "It hates me. I want to love it but it hates me and I don't know how to make it love me."

"Mira, it's wood with strings, while a lot of people might want to claim it has a soul and I suppose it could, it just is an object, it has no mind to actually hate you. I'm pretty sure that even if it did have a mind of its own, it wouldn't hate you. You're too sweet and kind for anyone to hate you."

Blushing, Mira ducked his head, wiping his fingers lightly on the soft towel. 

"Just give it a few days, over the weekend I'll get in touch with my friend and I'll see if you can't be taught a little. Just an hour or so every week to get you started. More than likely at the studio but I'm not really worried about that. They're good with new folks who want to learn to play these instruments and they're patient as can be."

"I take it Agni disappeared off into his room because my random plucking got on his nerves and he preferred his music and his games?"

Cyrille offered Mira a wry smile as his only answer, a soft shrug touching his shoulders in that 'Can't really be helped, I'm sorry' sort of way.

"He'll hate having bought me this gift before long, I'm sure of it."

"On the contrary, once you learn the basic, I'm sure he'll just sit at your feet and stare up at you wide-eyed at how well you play. If he doesn't, I know I most likely will. I used to do that with Magali, even when she was just beginning to play. I was so fascinated by the way she pulled music from what I used to call the beast. I was such a tiny kid when I was young, her harp towered over me." He laughed and stepped out of the hallway, heading off to the living room where he dropped to sit on the couch with a stretch.

"Are you sure?" Mira followed him, fingers still holding onto the towel and he moved to sit on the floor, his head resting lightly against the older teen's knee. "I guess you must be. Can you tell me about one of your trips?"

"Any in particular you want to know more about? There have been a few and I'm sure none of them are all that interesting but I guess that's because I lived through them and they weren't up to my expectations."

Shifting his weight slightly, Mira closed his eyes, a soft humming escaping his lips as he thought long and hard—for all of about a couple of heartbeats. "What about your trip to the jungle?"

"There have been a couple of those. You want the one where we went on the water or the one where we all stayed cooped up inside because dad hadn't really checked the season and we ended up going during the heavy-rainfall season? I think they called is monsoon season or something."

"The water one."

"One story about my trip to the jungle when we went on the water coming right up."

  


"So when we got back to this place we were more or less renting to sleep in, we were all exhausted, drenched and had ourselves a few more bug-bites than we'd expected but oh, we'd had fun, we'd found fish and we'd just discovered so much." Cyrille's voice had dropped to a murmur halfway through his story as he felt Mira's breath on his knee evening out to a slow, steady pace. It had been a long day and after the gifts had been opened and the cake eaten, Mira had tried for the harp, Agni had disappeared into his room and things had just led to where they were now.

Despite knowing that the other was fast asleep, Cyrille had kept on with his story, just in case that sleep was light and he would wake from it. When he was finally done, he stretched lightly, carefully and he moved his weight. He lifted Mira's arms from his leg, got up and carefully put those arms back down on the couch cushion.

He kneeled next to the other and moved to pick up that sleep-heavy body, making sure to cradle that head along his shoulder. He carried Mira off to his room, setting him on his bed. He leaved his clothes as they were, not wanting to invade his privacy. Instead he merely tucked the youth into his bed, tugging the sheets up to his chin.

Cyrille pressed a kiss to Mira's temple before he moved back to the door. He stopped in its frame, looking back to the sleeping one. He smiled. "You'll do just great once you get a few basic lessons, I'd bet a lot on that. Sleep sweet, Mira."

He turned off the light, pulled the door mostly closed, leaving it just barely ajar and he moved to the door across from it, knocking once before he stepped inside. The room was quiet, no lights on except the one coming from the computer. From the motion of the shadows he could see of Agni, he could tell that whatever game was on, it still was being played.

Cyrille stayed and watched for a few moments before he shook his head and stepped back out of the room. Cyrille knew that Agni staying awake too long would leave for one rather cranky teenager tomorrow but he knew better than to try to disturb him now to remind him that it was getting late and that they had work in the morning. There was no way he was reaching out and startling the teen. He'd seen gamers be pulled from their games only to get pissed off for one reason or another, he wasn't chancing it.

He stepped into his room, stretching with a yawn. Today had been a good day, the meal had been delicious, they'd both had a slight taste of red wine—Agni had found it strange tasting and Mira had wrinkled his nose in almost disgust at it—and gifts had been given and received. All in all, quite a good day really. He felt good about his life, he felt as though, for once, he actually belonged somewhere, it was a feeling he hadn't felt in some years.

Changing, he turned off his lights before he slipped under his covers. No longer did he think this room as being Zora's. It was his though the colours still bothered him to a slight point. He'd thought about painting everything over though he'd have to discuss it with the twins. Maybe after the new year if he still was sleeping there.


	3. Dogs

"Honestly guys, I'm not sure why I'm even asking the question but I guess not everyone here has the same taste as far as pets are concerned. I'm not even going to give a list, I just want to know what kind of animal each and every one of you would pick if you could have just one." Yael shot him an outraged look though it melted quickly enough into an amused one. 

"One is never enough. The more the merrier though with seven we have our hands full. I'm a cat person." He turned his gaze to his companion and housemate, his significant other and Quentin rolled his eyes with a soft chuckle.

"I don't even know why I'm answering this. I thought I wouldn't like animals at all but Yael managed to turn me into a lover of all things feline. We' even considered a Savannah for the very distant future."

He turned his gaze to the seat next to him, Eoghan who'd asked the question and the man shrugged, turning his gaze elsewhere on the table. "Well Lex obviously has a thing for snakes, ssssss, and I don't know, I've always thought bats were pretty cute but a bit unconventional, I'm a bit torn between cats and dogs. No parrots please."

At those words, Lex laughed and Eoghan shot him a dirty look. He rubbed his wrist gently in memory.

"Well, I have Ophé at home, though she's mostly Magali's dog and I love her to bits. I always thought I'd be more of a cat person but I've never had one before in my life. I've spent some time over at Quentin's and Yael's and their cats are awesome, I think I'd have one of both, I couldn't really decide." Cyrille's words were thoughtful as he sipped at his water. The meal had been wonderful, different. He couldn't recall when he'd last had eaten a perfectly cooked fish steak. Just seared on either sides and still perfectly pink in the middle.

"Cats are independent, I think I'd do well with a cat but they don't play fetch. I've liked the dhole for years though, they called it the Indian wild dog last I tried to find pictures of it. It's pretty endangered though, which is just flat out sad." Agni shrugged his shoulders, poking at the leftover bit of salad on his plate. The fish he'd really appreciated, the green-stuff not so much though he was certain it was more from the dressing that had been on it more than anything else.

"Mira?" Eoghan tilted his head slightly to the side. The teen blinked and looked up to him a moment, as if startled out of whatever it was he'd been thinking about. 

"What? Oh sorry. I don't know. Pangolins are pretty sweet but I don't know how well that'd do as a pet. I think I'd probably go with the Indian flying fox but I can't imagine that'd make much of a pet either. I don't know, I like animals in a pretty rounded up way." He shrugged, offering a sheepish smile.

All eyes turned to Armin blinked and stared back in turn though he glanced more than stared, looking from one to the other. He shrugged, unable to really hide the uncertain smile from his lips. "I've never been one for animals, mostly in that way that I know I wouldn't be able to really take care of them in the way they might deserve if I had one."

"That aside, if you could have one animal as your companion until the end, isn't there one in particular you'd want?"

"Well, unlike you, I've yet to have a bad experience with birds and I've always liked the sight of the macaws, they're so beautifully bright."

Eoghan screwed up his nose, as if he'd just smelled up something bad and he stuck his tongue out somewhat. "Though to be fair, it was pouring outside, that bird was absolutely scared out of its mind and it did not like being anywhere near Lex, I suppose my bad experience shouldn't really be a bad experience. At least now I know what to get all of you guys for the holidays."

A chorus of 'what?!' echoed in the room and Eoghan laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just kidding, I was thinking more along the lines of little crystal figurines in the shape of something, I don't know, I still have some time ahead of me."

  


"You need to eat your veggies, Agni!" Eoghan called out as he finished picking up the plates, Lex and Yael were already side by side in the kitchen, washing and drying.

"Bleh, your dressing sucked!"

"Agni!" Mira's voice was absolutely shocked as he looked at his brother, his eyes wide and surprised.

"No, let him Mira." Eoghan turned from one twin to the other. "The issue with your statement, Agni, is that this is the exact same dressing I used last week and you gobbled your salad up completely. I'd have to say it might have been more the choice of salad itself and not what was on it."

Agni ducked his head, mumbled an apology and disappeared off into the movie room where the rest of their group was getting settled.

"I am so sorry Eoghan, I don't know what's going on with him lately, he's just been in a bit of a mood."

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure it's just that time of the year. You guys were on the street last year on this date and it might just be a sensitive time for him, I don't mind. Try not to worry too much about it." 

Mira tried for the hint of a smile but couldn't manage. Eoghan shooed him and Cyrille off to the movie room, reminding them not to get it started before everyone was in. He joined the pair in the kitchen, helping with putting away the dishes one they were dry. It only took a few more minutes before everything was clean and they were heading towards the darkened room for their movie.

"So what are we watching this time around? Whose turn was it to pick?"

Silence met him and he blinked once, then again. "Guys?"

"Pretty sure it was your turn, love." Lex murmured from behind him before he settled with a gentle laugh.

"Oh! Sorry, my bad." He moved to find the remote, settling down as he pulled up the menu and went through a few different choices, finally he settled on an old classic and turned all of the menus off so focus could be on the movie itself

  


As they filed out of the room, Eoghan looked to Cyrille who was carrying a sleeping Agni in his arms. "You want some help with him?"

Cyrille shook his head, looking to the sleeping teen in his arms. "I don't know what's eating away at him but it's all there. He's been more or less sticking to his own things. We'll offer to watch something on the television and he'll prefer to head to his room to play his games, he plays them until pretty late at night. He's been doing it for a few days and I guess it finally caught up with him. He's not all that heavy, thanks though."

Eoghan nodded, looking at the trio as they stepped out of the door and towards the elevator. At least that much helped him feel somewhat better, to know that they weren't taking the stairs back down to their floor though he imagined that Cyrille might have been able to handle the weight well enough.

He closed the door with a sigh, turning away from it and stepping towards his shared living room. "I guess it's just one of those things. These kids have never had a chance at being kids and I can't hold it against him if he rebels a little in his own way. I'm sure he'll get over it all eventually. If he doesn't, we'll just adapt."

"We'll be fine, Eoghan, let's get some sleep, tomorrow's a big day."


	4. Servitude

A few final, high school grade exams had already been gone through. It seemed easier, for the twins, to learn about one particular subject for a while, go through a few exams to see how well they were learning and then ease into another subject to go back to that other subject a few months later. French they had gone through, English was nearly done (Eoghan stated that English was almost a necessity if they ever went to the states, where he'd lived most of his life). Math was coming along well enough, science. History though, that was another story altogether, at least as far as one of those particular twins was concerned.

"So, not even that long ago, you're telling me that people had slaves? I can understand servants, folks you're paying to help you around the house, like butlers and gardeners and stuff, but slaves really?" Agni looked up, a disgusted sort of look crossing his face at the idea of slaves. He'd heard of the stuff in story books but he'd never really grasped that it was real, that there really had been slaves. It all had seemed like some twisted form of faery tale and it hadn't been right by his book.

"Ugh, this history stuff suck why do we have to study it?"

Mira rolled his eyes at his brother and pondered, again, the idea of closing his door. Ever since they'd first opened their history book, now looking into stuff that was well beyond cavemen old, Agni had complained about a lot of things. 

Mira didn't much care for what he was reading but he knew there wasn't much he could do about it, if at all really. It was all in the past, none of them could turn back time to try to 'make things right'. He also knew that trying to change the past could very well have terrible consequences.

Agni, on the other hand, kept on going on about how everything was absolutely heartless and it wasn't right that they'd suffered, these poor people. "You're a true knight, Agni. You'd save the whole world. You have to remember that all of this is in the past, even if you complain about it now, it's not going to change anything."

"You suck."

Having had enough, Mira rolled his eyes, sighed and stepped to his door. He closed it gently, seeing no point in slamming it. He wasn't angry, he had no reason to be angry. He just didn't really want to hear his brother going on about how history sucked and how everything recently sucked.

He pressed his forehead to his closed door, breathing in deeply and holding it in. After a few moments, he exhaled and tried to not let it get to him. His brother was just having a rough time of life in general lately, it had nothing to do with him though he felt as if he was on the receiving end of most of those taunts and that anger. He hoped it passed soon.

Cyrille had told Mira, in a joking manner, that he thought Agni might very well simply be sexually frustrated, he needed a bit of release and might simply not have any idea of how to take care of it. Mira had blinked at him, staring blankly for a second or two before he'd managed a weak chuckle and a just as weak curl of his lips. Cyrille had hugged him and told him to be strong, that it would eventually pass.

"Magali told me that I used to be a real monster, I'd tell everyone to get lost and I'd slam doors and just, I was frustrated with everything that had to do with my life but I managed to get over it. I'm not saying it's going to be an instant sort of thing but I think we just need to give him time."

Time was all Mira could give at this point.

  


When he heard the tell-tale sounds of his brother's game even through his closed door, Mira stepped into the hallway. He moved to silently close Agni's bedroom door, startling when he saw Cyrille just a few paces away from him. Mira smiled faintly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Looks like he's given up on studying for today and his gaming sound was just too loud for me so I just closed his door. You're back now?"

Cyrille smiled, nodding as he walked down the hallway, turning when he went into the kitchen. "Yeah, I got everything I needed from the store and I came back. I didn't feel like being out there, it's so chilly, you'd think we have a foot or so of snow out there while we don't even have that much at this point. I did get you guys something but if Agni still wants to sulk, I'm just going to end up putting his portion away. I think you deserve a break."

Mira opened his mouth but closed it, figuring it was best not to bother his brother at this point, it was safer to put whatever the surprise was, at least that one portion, away, to wherever it was supposed to go.

"So what did you get?" Mira tried to peer into the bags but Cyrille tsked at him softly. Mira stuck his tongue out and stepped back out of the way.

"Careful, Mira. I might want to really see the two of you as my adorable kid brothers I'd do anything for but if you stick your tongue out I might just have to show you that you're supposed to use it properly when you do stick it out like that."

Blinking, Mira stared for a long moment, his gaze blank as he tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told. He shook his head, still not grasping it and Cyrille laughed, he leaned closer, his lips nearly brushing his friend's ear. "Usually the saying is 'don't stick out your tongue unless you intend to use it'. There's a few different ways for someone to use their tongues, most of them not usually shared between brothers. All of them really."

He leaned back, laughing softly as Mira seemed to give this a bit more thought and eventually he blushed, as deep a red as his brother's hair colour. "Okay, not sticking my tongue out again."

"I'm hurt, don't you want a kiss from me?" His voice still gentle and teasing as he put away a few things into the cupboard.

"I would, I think, but not if you wouldn't want it, plus, I don't know, I'd feel as though Agni might want one too—from you that is—and I don't think it'd be fair and you're the best friend I've ever had and I don't want to ruin that and-"

Cyrille closed the gap, pressing just the barest of touches to Mira's lips, mostly to quiet him down. "I'm a very affectionate friend. I'm not saying I'll start French kissing you but you know. Whatever happens will and that's not going to tear us apart, I promise."

Mira, still tomato-red, ducked his head, his fingers brushing lightly across his lips. When he looked up, his eyes were wide, filled with wonder.

"Here, cotton candy."

He blinked as Cyrille handed him the very bright pink bit of- he wasn't sure what it was, it seemed almost cloud-like.

"You take small bites, it's very sweet, it's pretty much just sugar."

He did tear off a small bit, putting it in his mouth, his eyes widening as it melted almost within a few seconds. "That is pretty cool!"

"I thought you'd like. Just a little for now, it's pretty sweet and since I know you two aren't really used to sweet things, I don't want to feed you too much only to realize you're really not digesting it well."

"Thank you, Cy."

"You're welcome."

"I mean- for everything. Thank you."

"I'm your friend, Mira. That's not going to change."


	5. Quick Exit

Eoghan had told him about the church after he'd looked at it. Not that he'd said much, only that he was sure it would be the best thing ever. He hadn't brought it up again.

After a somewhat grueling day at work, where the heat had stopped working despite the work that had been done to get it fixed up, Armin had stepped out of the building, the twins and Cyrille a few steps ahead of him. He'd turned to lock the doors and when he'd turned back to head along with the other three, he had noticed Eoghan's car idling just a few paces away. 

Armin eased closer and looked into the lowering window. Eoghan had smiled at him and told him to get in, to let the kids head on home. There had been something for him to see. Armin hadn't argued, had simply slipped into the car, glad that the window was already easing up and shut. He was chilled and the car was comfortable and warm.

Eoghan didn't tell him where they were going.

  


When they pulled up to the curb, just outside of the church, Armin's eyes grew wide, not even really certain as to what he was looking at. Was this really the church that had been mentioned about? When the car was turned off and Eoghan eased outside, Armin followed him, careful to get his crutch settled at his arm again once he was as steady as he could on his feet.

He walked, following the taller man, slipping past the fences once it was unlocked with a key. They went up the stairs and Eoghan held the door open for him. He stepped inside and stopped just a few paces away from the door. His eyes were wide, filled to the brim with wonder.

"This place is huge, Eoghan. It's going to look half empty once everything gets moved in here. Are you sure we should? It's not so much that it's an old church and I can imagine you'll do something pretty magical with it all but I just can't help but imagine all of this place just half empty because of how little stuff we have." Armin looked around the huge 'room' once more, taking in all the details. The pews were all gone, all that was really left were the pillars and he knew those weren't really going anywhere at all. He didn't mind.

"It's going to be perfectly perfect, Armin. As perfect as it can get. You had so many books way out of reach because your shelves were too high, we'll have more shelves, a comfortable area for the kids, a reading corner, we can even set up a computer area that'll be more than just a row with three or so computers that are so old they barely run well enough to get what you need out of them." Eoghan laughed softly, the sound echoing against the high ceiling. He saw a bird, a pigeon more than likely, scatter at the echo, making a quick exit off who knew where. He'd have to look into that to make sure there were no birds or rodents or anything else that didn't belong before anything else. Or at least once the windows were changed.

"Well, you're the one working on all of the setup, the one with the eye for the layouts. I just feel like this space is really, absolutely huge. What are we going to set up along the bit of room we have on the upper floor?" He looked up towards the stairs and shook his head, he wasn't looking forward to having to climb those, not one tiny little bit. 

Eoghan shrugged gently. "The organ was up there before, at least that's what I was told, there's not that much room and I'm not sure, honestly. To tell you the truth I haven't gone up to see just yet so I don't know how small or big it might be. It could be another reading corner or we could mock-gate it up and claim it as the area for the forbidden books. The evil stuff."

He waved his hands as he uttered the word evil, trying to make it seem as if he'd said something spooky. "Or it can just be a place where you guys can have your breaks or even just a place for the extra stuff that usually stays hidden in the back room, we'll figure it out, Armin. I know you're not comfortable with that kind of stairs though it's not a spiral staircase and it's pretty easy going up, I think you'd get used to it if you gave it a chance."

"I might, just not today, please?"

"Not today is fine. Today I just wanted you to see this place. It's going to be grandiose, I tell you."

Armin had a feeling it would be. The old building looked like a trap for who knew what compared to this place. It was beautiful and not even close to the kind of church he had seen now and again while he was growing up. "This place looks like it's an early Gothic style, I hadn't seen one of those in well, ever."

It really would be absolutely perfect for the library, that's what he told himself, that's what he wanted to believe.

Briefly, he shivered and used his free arm to rub his other one with a soft sigh. "I don't want to seem ungrateful but can we head home? We've had one of those days, the heat failed absolutely and I just feel drained and chilled."

Eoghan turned and smiled at him, nodding towards the door. "We might as well, at least now you know what I'm working with, or at least what I see when I mention the church. I tell you, eventually, this place is going to be so big that people from out of the city and maybe even out of the country will come!"

He laughed, the sound bright an amused. Another bird scattered off, exiting somewhere up way above their head. He turned, Armin following him, and they moved back towards the door and to the car. Eoghan opened the door for the slighter man, Armin blinked up at him a moment but slid into his seat, setting the crutch against the seat as he did. Eoghan closed the door and went around to his side. He slid inside, buckled himself up and started the car again, breathing a quite note of content at the warm draft of air that began to circulate in the vehicle.

He drove them home without a pause, not much caring to take the scenic route as it was. Armin was tired, he could tell that much just from looking at the man and he'd almost, oh almost brought him straight home instead of at the church but he had wanted his vision to be shared. It was just one of those things.

Once the car was parked, he eased out, stretching with a yawn as the chill of the evening air settled against his skin without even asking if it could. He shook his head and walked back inside, Armin at his side. He kept to the slighter man's pace, holding the door open once they were inside. He even walked him to his door, bidding him a good evening and a good night before he wandered back towards the stairs, taking them nearly two by two to get upstairs. 

He could have taken the elevator, he knew but he wanted his muscles to warm up. While he hadn't been outside long, the chill had almost too easily sunk into his bones and he didn't much care to be cold. Once at the top, slightly out of breath, he stepped inside and the heat of the crackling fireplace replaced the chill utterly. He sighed and closed his eyes for a few moments, enjoying the sound of the fire before he was finally easing out of his coat and hanging it up.

"I think he's going to love it. Afraid it'll look empty but I'll just make sure it's as perfect as possible."

"He'll love it, Eoghan. So long as it has heat, good lighting and it isn't falling to pieces, he'll love it."


	6. Ethnic Food

"I don't know where in the world we're supposed to go for this week's supper." Eoghan was looking at the wide map of the world pinned to his wall. He had marked with tiny little pines, where they'd already 'been', that was, where he'd gotten his inspiration for their meal for their weekly shared supper. "I know that there is a world of different ethnics out there but it feels as though we've skimmed them all. I know that's not true but I can't help it."

Lex, leaning against the frame of the door, studied the map from where he stood. The pins were scattered everywhere, that had tasted to most widely known food styles, maybe now it was time to pick an area and dig deeper into what came from these very people. At least, that's how he saw it and he knew his companion was only looking for a simple enough answer.

He stepped deeper into the brightly lit room. The sky was cloudless but the air was cold, it was not a day to really spend outside unless absolutely bundled up. He eased up to the map, letting his fingers hover over the areas where there were some pins. There were none around the Russian area and this he understood well enough. It was an unspoken rule that they mostly avoided talking about the place and that included its food and the rest. Quentin still wasn't all that comfortable with anything that had to do with Russia though Lex figured that eventually—even if it took a couple of decades or so—that discomfort would fade.

"It's been some time since we've had some Spanish food though, I could help you prepare up one of these huge paellas that feed so many people we're usually stuck with leftovers?"

Eoghan's eyes brightened at the idea. He looked to Spain on his map and nodded. There was one pin in Portugal, there was also one in Spain but he knew it went back a certain amount of time since they'd 'visited' the culture and food of the place. It wasn't such a bad idea. "You're a life saver!"

Lex laughed, shaking his head as he turned to look the desk over, he located the pins Eoghan used to make where they were eating 'at' for that particular Friday and set the white pin there. Once the meal was had, the pin would be changed into another colour but white pins were for eventual meals.

"I don't see how I'm a life saver, you're just an absolute worry-wart. We've had our shared meal just yesterday, you still had a whole week ahead of you to fuss and fret about what kind of food you wanted."

Sticking his tongue out, Eoghan turned his gaze back on the map, studying it with a soft sigh. "I've been to most everywhere on this planet. In a general sense that is. I don't honestly recall where I felt more at home though. A house here and there, a summer home, it was all nice and dandy but I just feel a stronger connection here."

"Well for one, you have friends here."

"I had friends everywhere!"

"Eoghan..."

"Okay, fine. I suppose I couldn't really call any of them real friends. Half of them were trying to miserably use me for my money and the other half couldn't have cared less if they'd found me dead in a ditch. Still, I did make some real friends over the years, we just don't much keep in touch but when I visit they welcome me with open arms."

"As I was saying though. For one thing you do have friends here, people you almost consider family. I've known you for a really long time and you've never done that kind of thing before. Befriended people, let them stay over, eat with them, share secrets with them but you're open with our group here more than you've ever been with anyone else. For two, you've got these kids pretty much depending on you, I think that changes someone."

He paused, looking Eoghan over quietly. The younger demon's face was wide open, vulnerable, he would have gobbled up anything at this point, though Lex only spoke the truth as he saw it. He had no reason whatsoever to lie to his lover, after all.

"If I somehow still had it in me to be an idiot—I'm not saying I don't—and I decided to leave this place because of my powers again, I wouldn't even try to drag you with me, hell I'd probably try to convince you to stay here because here is where you belong. Now come on, you've picked your next supper theme, it's time to do something else."

With a soft laugh, Eoghan stepped away from the map and out of his studio, following the taller man into the living room where he took a quiet look about. This really was his life, it was how wanted it and how peaceful he felt about it all. He didn't want to be anywhere else.

  


"I don't know why you worry so much about the meal 'themes' as it is. Once the meal is over or while we're serving it or even before they leave, you could ask them where they might want to 'go' on the following Friday, I bet you could get a fair few different ideas if you gave it a chance." Lex, his arm curled about Eoghan's waist, had nearly drifted off. They'd settled by the fireplace, its soft crackle and the barely there echoes of some classical music were the only things breaking the otherwise very peaceful silence of their home.

"I feel that if I don't pick and wow them with the week's choice, they might just decide that they don't really want to bother coming again and we'll not be able to keep going through with the meal and movie night. I think it'd be a shame."

"Eoghan, they still came when you mentioned, during one of the meals, that the following was a 'bring something from where you were born' week. They all love coming up here, eating good food and then watching a movie. Plus, if the interest dwindled for any reason, we could slow it down and do it every other week or once a month. Nothing is forcing anyone to do this every week, you just do it because you want to."

Shrugging lightly, Eoghan closed his eyes, listening to the fireplace, listening to the barely audible notes of classical. He figured it was the radio sitting at the other end of the room with the volume nearly down to zero, it was perfect this way. "I guess I'm just insecure and I don't want these people to walk away from me."

"They all depend on you one way or another, no one is going to walk away from you."

"Agni-"

"Agni is a teenager and he's going through a thing. You told Mira the same thing last time he apologized about his brother's behaviour. I'm pretty sure you were that way at one point in your life. I can't really claim I might have been the same because life was pretty different back then but that's aside the point. The point here is that they're not going to walk away. Armin looks up to you to keep on helping him make progress with his gift."

"He's making really good progress."

"Thanks to you. The twins look up to you as a sort of father figure. They need you in their lives and that's all there is to that. I'm here too and I'm not going anywhere, if you think you're getting rid of me that easily, you're sadly mistaken." He nipped Eoghan's earlobe lightly, playfully. Eoghan yipped, his eyes wide and startled though he laughed, letting go, for the time being, of all his worries concerning his friend. He was so used to people who made use of him and then walked away that this was just a little different from the norm. He'd adapt, he knew.


	7. Adventure

Cyrille had let him borrow that one particular book, telling him it would more than likely interest him. He had said something about choose-your-own but Mira hadn't really understood what it meant. Not that he didn't know how to pick his own things, his own this and that, but as far as a book was concerned, he didn't really understand what it had been supposed to mean.

Mira had opened the book, looked it over, read the back of it, skimmed through a few pages but none of them really had made sense. He'd tried from the start but everything seemed jumbled and at the end of every paragraph or couple of page, there seemed to be choices. Different choice led to different pages. Was he supposed to pick?

"I don't get the book, Cyrille. When I get to the end of the first page, I start trying to read the second one but it doesn't follow up on the first page and I just get really lost." He waved the book about lightly. Mira knew that, if Cyrille had offered this book to Agni, there would have been two likely outcomes: one, the book would have been read through in whichever was it was meant to, or two, Agni would have thrown it away for not understanding what it was about and how it worked.

Cyrille laughed softly, he put down his own book and scooted closer to Mira. He took the book from the other's darker ones and opened up to the first page. He skimmed the paragraph and found his way down to the choices, depending on what the reader decided. "When you make it down here, after you've read the paragraph, you have to decide what you do. The whole book isn't just a single story, it's multiple means of getting through the story."

"But I want to read through the whole story."

"In a way you can't, though you can always note down which option you've taken when you take them and then you read it again and you select another option. I don't mind if you want to write down in the book with a pencil, I have a couple of books like that and I've done it with another one. That way I knew I'd have experienced everything the book had to offer."

"That's a little weird."

"Well, I guess in a way it is but think about it, this book puts you in the lead's shoes so you decide where you go, you pick up objects along your adventure and you discover new worlds. That's why the hero has no name and no real physical description. What you pick up along the way is different though."

"Still a little weird."

Cyrille laughed and shook his head. "You don't have to read it if you don't want to, you know."

"No, no I want to read it, it's just a little confusing. So say I read through the first page and I come to my choices," he opens up the book to the proper page and he looks down to his 'choices'. "I could either decide to head into the forest, I'd have to go to page twelve, or I could decide to turn and follow the pathway to the lake, that's page fourteen or there's the cave and that's seventeen. So I go to one of these pages and when I get there, I'll move along in my adventure and I'll have another decision to make."

"Pretty much. All good?"

"I think so, sorry I bothered you."

"You're never a bother to me, Mira. I love helping you guys when it comes to learning new things." He kissed the top of the young demon's head and moved back to where he'd dropped his book, leaning back into the couch cushions and opening his reading back to the page he'd been at just moments before. He spared one glance to Mira who had opened the book again. He was looking thoughtful, trying to decided where he was going, Cyrille figured, and there, those pages were turned to another point further down into the book.

  


"So I died."

Cyrille looked up as he put his book down. He quirked a brow and laughed at Mira sheepish smile.

"I took one wrong turn and I got smushed by some boulder avalanche. I died. Can I just go back to the last page I was on before I made this one choice and read from there or do I have to start all over again?" He looked genuinely curious and Cyrille laughed again, a soft, amused sound.

"That one is absolutely up to you, Mira. Some people go back and take the other path, some people start all over, make different choices because they didn't like where they were heading, it really is all up to you."

"M'kay."

"I'm going to get some popcorn going, you want some?"

Mira looked up from his book, a thoughtful look crossing his face as he put his finger as a bookmark in his book a he closed it for a few moments. "I think popcorn would be pretty sweet, don't forget to make some for Agni."

"I won't forget Agni, Mira. While I know he might not want any and I figure that he might huff somewhat if we don't prepare him any, anyway, I figured I'd make enough for all of us. Want anything special on it?"

"Do we still have some of that sweet and sour thing you used last time? I really liked it."

"Some sweet and sour for you it is I think I'll stick to buttery for me, though maybe cheddar might be nice. I'll go and see if Agni even wants enough and what he might want on it should be want any. Go back to your book."

Mira, rolling his eyes at being told what to do, leaned back into the thickly comfortable couch cushions and opened his book, using his finger-bookmark to find where he'd left off again.

  


"There's going to be popcorn, Agni, want some?"

Flopped on his bed, headphones over his head, Agni seemed to not hear him. Cyrille shook his head and stepped closer to the bed, he moved to stand in his friend's line of sight, not saying another word. There was no point in uttering anything of he couldn't be heard over that music.

Agni blinked up at the sudden face above his own and he tugged his headphones off somewhat. "Yes?"

At least he seemed to be over that little phase of snapping at everyone for everything. For now in any case. Cyrille smiled down at him, brushing some hair behind his ear. "I'm preparing some popcorn, I thought you might want some, any flavour in particular you'd care to have?"

Agni shifted, moving to sit up. He turned his player off and unplugged his headphone. "Something a little sweet? I liked that cloud-candy thing you brought back, it was really nice."

Cyrille reached out, fingers mussing the teen's hair gently. There was some progress being made, Agni was trying to be nice, it was better than nothing in the long run. "I still have some of that and I'm pretty sure I can get your portion of popcorn coated in a bit of the stuff, would that be fair?"

"That'd be nice, can I help?" Agni had skipped out on helping with most everything in the house as of the past week and then some, this was new too. Perhaps a return to normalcy.

"Some help would actually be nice. I'll let you put your things away and I'll start the popcorn up, then we can prepare the mixes together for each of our portion. Mira wants some sweet and sour and I'll be setting for just some cheddar flavoured stuff, shouldn't take too long to prepare everything."

With that, he stepped away from that bedroom, a smile tugging at his lips. Cyrille knew Mira had been worrying himself to no end about his brother's behaviour, this really was a step in the right direction.


	8. A Red Blanket

Had this taken place in Quentin and Yael's home, it is likely that there would have been red yarn scattered everywhere. Yael had tried knitting once, just once. It had ended up in a disaster. In several small, four legged disaster that had thought the huge ball of yarn for a toy and they'd gone at it. There had been yarn everywhere, knotted in all places and there had been several tangled kitties. He'd left the textile part of being artsy to Quentin.

This however, this was taking place in the second-floor apartment of the building next door where one particular teenager had thought that maybe, just maybe, he could try to knit a pretty red blanket for his brother. It had started well enough really, he'd managed a tiny bit of progress before things had seemingly taken a completely unexpected turn.

To the untrained eyes, that was, everyone in this building and the building next door as honestly, it may just be hard to find someone with an eye trained for these things, Mira looked as though he'd had himself the fight of his life with a huge ball of deep red yarn and he'd lost. The inanimate yarn had won the fight and it had won it easily.

At that very point in time, while his brother had wandered off with their friend to buy a few things they needed for their pantry, Mira had tuned all of his patience in, focusing as best as he could as he tried, mostly vainly, to untangle himself from his mess.

He was making very, very slow progress but he was making progress. Had he had his brother's gift, he would very simply have set the thing on fire and called that a night but he wasn't and he didn't really want to ruin yarn that still could be perfectly good. He still could mostly wander around though he was well wrapped up in the mock spider's web of red yarn. He'd found the ball that hadn't been completely unravelled and he slowly did that.

Once it was fully unravelled, he wrapped the clear end around a piece of cardboard and he started rolling it up again. He hoped that by rolling it up, there would be less of it to get tangled and he could have a better grip of everything. When he finally had all the loose yarn rolled up properly and cleanly, he started, again, the process of trying to get himself out of that mess.

  


Mira heard the door click open and closed and he looked down at himself. He'd managed to get out of about half of the mess. He didn't know whether or not he wanted his brother to see him in this mess, it might ruin whatever surprise he had been hoping to achieve for Christmas. Cyrille finding him this way might not have been as bad though Mira could only imagine he might end up being the butt of a few jokes if that were to happen.

Shaking his head, he turned his gaze back to where he'd been, trying to work out one particularly kinked up tangle. It had been troublesome. For a while, he'd put the slowly growing ball of yarn down to try to work on the other end of it, the end where he'd started at but he couldn't even find it in the mess of everything so continuing with the rolled end of it was his only option at that point. Though he was rather growing exhausted about it.

He ignored the footsteps coming towards his door, not wanting to lose his focus on the task at hand. But the voice that spoke his name was soft, it held just a soft note of amusement, it was barely there.

"I suck at knitting, it seems. I don't want to just trash it, I really, honestly want to finish untangling it, I know I can make use of it but just.." He shrugged, exhaustion finally catching up with him now that he wasn't absolutely and completely focusing on his task at hand.

"Well for one, I'm thinking we could wiggle you out of it without getting any more tangles started or knots worsened, that might just be the first step. I'm curious as to how you've managed to get yourself tangled without any help but I won't ask."

"I wouldn't have an answer for you. One moment I'm knitting, the next my ball of yarn rolls off my bed and to the floor, I go to get it and it just. I don't know, it happened." He stayed still as the taller boy stepped closer. He looked at the 'mess' from all angles before he nodded once, to himself.

"All right, I'm going to first get your shoulders out of the mess and the rest should mostly just fall off on its own, then we can stretch it out on the ground and I can see about helping you."

"I can't find the other end of the string but if you can, I think some help might be nice, I'm going crazy doing this but I want to get it done pretty badly."

With a few tugs, Cyrille managed to get his friend free of the yarn. It was far from untangled but at least he didn't have to keep standing in the middle of it while he worked, he imagined that this as a whole was going to be a huge relief.

Mira, once free, moved to sit on his bed, not even wasting a second. He sighed, closing his eyes as he rubbed his feet gently. "I don't know how long you guys were gone but ouch, I'm not going anywhere for the next couple of hours, thank you."

"No problem, let me sit here on the floor and see if I can't get to the other end of that string. What got you interested in knitting?"

Mira shrugged, tugging lightly at the string that was stuck in the middle of his latest knot. "I think I was trying for holiday gifts that were hand made. I tried to think of what I could buy you guys and everyone else but everything I came up just wasn't good enough. So I figured I'd try my hands at making stuff. So far, not so good."

Cyrille laughed softly, fingers working on a knot on his end as he finally got his hands on the second end of the string. "I guess it's one way of looking at things, Mira. It's sweet that you'd want to make stuff for everyone else. If you figure out a good sort of gift, I think I might try to do something similar. This is going to be my first year where I'm not going to be on my own or just with Magali and I honestly don't know the kind of gifts I should be giving to anyone. At least beyond what I've already given you guys for your birthdays. I found the other end, by the way."

"Deal," Mira looked over, exhaustion clear on his face though he was still as determined to keep working, "and that is great. I tried to find it a few different times but I just couldn't manage."

"When you've looked at this stuff for a while, it all starts to look the same and I imagine that it might have been like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I don't mind helping you, by the way, don't think I'm doing this because I think I have to. I want to help."

"Thanks, Cy."

"That's what friends are for, Mira."

Rubbing his eyes, Mira nodded and kept on working on his knot, a low sigh slipping from him when it came loose. It seemed that now that he was out of the mess, it all was coming undone much more easily than it had previously done to, he was more than a little glad for that. "I don't know if I'll manage food after that, I might try for sleep."

"Once that's undone, you rest, we'll put your plate up for whenever you get back up, that's all."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."


	9. Bright Lights

He suddenly found himself more than a little glad for the blackout curtains they had installed in their bedroom. While he usually didn't mind staying up late into the night, there still were some limits, especially when he'd planned on being up early the following day. He'd almost been blinded just moments before he'd pulled the curtains shut.

"What's with the lights?" Eoghan stepped into their bedroom, rubbing his eyes somewhat. He'd just come out of a hot, steaming bath, to wash away the stress of the day. He had made all the calls he'd needed to get the work started on the church and some of his contractors had proven to be a little temperamental.

He'd seen lights from the bathroom window, it had been what had pulled him out of his still steaming water though he knew he'd soaked long enough to feel a bit more relaxed than he'd been since coming back home after having had a long face-to-face talk with his hired help.

"I don't know, I think they're spotlights, they're pretty bright. I hope the kids downstairs have good blackout curtains too because otherwise they might just not be able to get any sleep any time soon. I have no idea what they're doing out there but it's unpleasant. I can't imagine they're doing a red-carpet or something, not in this city. Maybe there's just something special going on out there but it's annoying."

Lex moved to sit on the bed, looking to the window for a few moments before he shook his head. "We're far enough from the rest of the city that we shouldn't even have had that kind of issues, even with spotlight so they're not even downtown. If the kids can't sleep down in their apartment I'm sure we can set up the air mattresses in the movie room, darkest room in this whole building."

Eoghan laughed softly as he finally turned the bathroom light off. There were soft lights in the bedroom itself, it was all he needed to see. "I think I'd been moments away from dozing off when this huge spotlight hit me in the face, I thought I'd dreamed it until it hit me again. Drained the water and here I am. Chilled to the bone."

"Poor lover, how about you put on something comfortable to sleep in and we'll settle into bed and try to warm you up nice and right, yes?"

  


They slept peacefully through their whole night. No visitors from the twins or anyone else seeking 'refuge' away from whatever the spotlights had been for. When morning swept about and Lex pulled the curtains up from their window, he looked out as far into the distance as he could, trying to see if there was anything at all left over from whatever it was that they'd seen the night before.

There was nothing.

When Eoghan joined him in the kitchen, latching onto a glass of orange juice with a soft humph, Lex shook his head with a soft chuckle. "I looked online, tried to see if I could find anything at all about celebrations or anything else and there was nothing. I'm thinking some shithead idiot found these spotlights and hooked them up somewhere, decided to shine them around. I suppose I could have stayed up to see how long it lasted but that wasn't really part of the plan, you were more important."

"I'd hope I'm more important than a blinding spotlight. I hope Yael and Quentin managed to get some sleep. I don't know if their curtains were thick enough to block that out and they were even closer to the lights than we were. Whatever hit us must have gone through the glass windows of their upper floor."

"More than likely. I'm sure we'll hear about something or other before too long, I'm not too worried. Are you heading back out to the church today?"

Eoghan nodded with a sigh. He rubbed the back of his neck as he sipped at his orange juice. "Some of the guys feel like they shouldn't be disturbing the church at all, I tried to find other folks but it's like no one wants to step forward so I have to keep on reminding them that it's just a building and that they're not disturbing anyone and just, argh. At least all the windows are done for now."

"Done windows are a good thing. You want me to come with?"

"No commissions today?"

Lex smiled, offering a bowl of cereal over as he shook his head. "None today and only a small piece due tomorrow and it's already mostly done, I just need to finish carving in the details, that will hardly take long. We can have a look around while we drive to the work site and see if we don't see something that'll tell us more about the idiot and his or her spotlight, last night."

"You're the best."

  


Lex couldn't really understand why they were so reluctant to fix up the church. Now if they'd been panting everything black and adding in a few blood-red pentagrams, he could have understood but this didn't really make sense. They were changing the windows, they were moving a few things around, they were fixing up a few more spot with heat, they were making sure everything was in tiptop shape. He knew the moving team itself wouldn't be so easily bothered by the fact that this building, an old church indeed, was being transformed into a library. Chances it would see more people now than it ever had in the past.

While the workers were fixing things up in the lower level, he and Eoghan went upstairs to explore. They hadn't actually looked up on the second floor, they didn't really know what they had been expecting. In one area, almost a new room in itself, there was enough space for something big, it was a little dusty, as if it hadn't seen anyone in a fair amount of time. The windows were stained glass as well but there was nothing in them that depicted Christianity in any of its form, they let it be.

The second floor, as it was, turned out to be much bigger than either one of them had really expected. Not really knowing what they would put up there yet, Eoghan decided that they would close off the access to the upper floor for the time being. It would have been a bad idea to chance anyone going up there and doing who knew what while there wasn't anyone to keep track of things just yet.

As they settled back to the main floor, Eoghan pointed things left and right, letting his mind drift on the ideas he was having. That corner would be for the kids, that one area could be a reading room. This one over there would have the computers, they could even set up a sort of glass enclosure around it.

It would all come together beautifully, that was what he told himself and he believed it for all he was worth. He would pour his heart into this project, it was more than a little worth it and with some hope, it still would be there when everyone else currently alive on the planet, at least the mortals, had lived through their lives and new souls had taken their places.

Even after spending a full day at the work-site, looking things over, discussing this and that with the workers, even asking about the spotlight, they didn't know what it had been about. They let it be, saw no need to really spend too much more time thinking about it. After all, it had only happened once and wouldn't happen at again. At least, it was better if it was that way, if it happened again, they'd do something about it but for the time being, it didn't seem as though it would be a real issue.


	10. The Colour Yellow

"I will now and forever associate the colour yellow with evil."

When he uttered those particular words, I mostly just stared at him, wondering what was going on through his head. It had been out of the blue, we'd all been just sitting in the living room, sitting quietly and peacefully, even Agni was with us. It was a strange change, usually he was busy in his room, playing his games but after he seemed to finally settle down a bit after his short 'I don't care' phase, he left his games behind a little.

I don't know who started the whole habit or why it was started at all but I can't say I'm complaining about it. It's nice, after we've come home from the library and after we've eaten some food, to settle in the living room, in front of the crackling fire, each with our book and we just read. I like helping them find new books to read and new worlds to discover. 

Usually, of course, Mira prefers one particular genre though he reads through most anything that is fantasy or science-fiction based. Agni tends to prefer horror books or thrillers but now and again I get them to read something out of their so-called comfort zone and it doesn't really seem to do anyone any harm, it just broadens their horizon.

"Should I ask to know why you will now associate that particular colour with evil?"

"It's this book." He answers, holding it up. I look at the book cover and read the title. I don't recall seeing this book before, I suppose he might have found it on his own, that's even better honestly as it means he's branching out into other things all on his own. "There's this villain in there and she's just dressed in yellow from head to toe and I don't know, the idea of yellow now makes me cringe somewhat."

Mira looks up from his book, putting his finger where he's at and closing it temporarily. It's one of those habits he's picked up when he only pauses in his book but doesn't want to close it completely. "Canaries are yellow."

"Canaries are evil." Agni's answer is calm and to the point, I still stare at him, trying to see how serious he is and I can't honestly read his face. Mira tilts his head to the side, pushing up small glasses a little on his nose. Those are recent, I assume he's had a long talk with Eoghan and they went to see someone about it. He only wear them when he's reading. I think they look pretty good on him.

"Most baby ducklings are yellow." I have a feeling I know where he's going with this but it's amusing to watch at this point so I let it happen, I'm pretty sure Agni will eventually cave in at something.

"Evil." He shrugs, looking down to his book before he looks back up to his brother, almost as if challenging him to find something else.

"Lemons."

"Evil _and_ sour."

Mira laughs at his brother's answer and I have to admit that he has a mock-point on this one. Well, lemons aren't evil but they are sour.

"Spongebob."

Agni pauses at this one as he starts to rethink his decision on yellow's evilness. I'm doing all I can to not laugh, this is amusing me more than it should. I'm just glad these two are talking. Things have been tense during Agni's little phase and they're settling now, slowly but surely.

"Well he's always bouncing around and annoying the other guy so I guess that makes him evil."

A little far-fetched but still plausible, I can imagine, I don't watch that show, myself. Agni looks around a moment, as if trying to draw some inspiration from what is surrounding us. He's quiet for a few moments before his lips quirk into a smile that I know is more than likely there for a reason, I can only imagine that Agni is about to cave in.

"Pikachu is yellow. So are his evolutions as far as I know about that game."

There goes Agni's mouth, hanging open a little and he looks like he wants to say something but almost as if he's not sure of how to utter it. I know that he's started playing one of the many Pokémon games that are out there, I don't know which exactly and I suppose it doesn't really matter that much. If he likes the game, then it's all that really matters on that subject. He frowns, looking down to the book, then back up to his brother, then to me. His eyes are almost begging me to come to his aid but I shrug at him lightly. This is his battle, not mine.

"Well pikachus aren't real and so it doesn't count."

"You're sorta contradicting yourself, Agni. If these little yellow balls of electricity aren't real, then Spongebob isn't real either and yet you said that he was evil. You can't have one be evil and the other be 'not real', that's not how it works."

Agni falls silent, pouting as he looks long and hard at the book in his hands. I know that this is just one of those things. I've acted that way before. I'd finish reading a particular book and call a dislike of one particular thing for a few days up to a week. It's just how I was though I'd been much younger. These two haven't known how to read that long so I'm not all that surprised by this in the end.

"Okay, fine, yellow isn't evil but this woman was and Pika isn't evil."

"I'm glad to know we agree on something." Mira murmurs, his lips settled into an amused smile as he then ever so simply turns his attention back to his book, opening it up where he'd settled his finger. Mira really is the kind who will devour his way through most any books he's handed, at least if they catch his attention. Who knows, maybe I can have him read Agni's book to see what the yellow fuss is all about. That or I could just read it myself.

I look down to the book in my hands, more a manual than anything else. I suppose I've been trying to find a way to see if my family can be saved at all. My parents don't much care now that we're all of age and they weren't around all that much while we were growing up. Magali's cancer seems to come and go, though now it's mostly gone and I can only hope she stays in remission until the end of her days, she deserves that much. Niall is an asshole who thinks the world owes him everything and if the twins's sister Zora is dating him, then I pity her unless somehow he treats her better than the last girl he was with.

I'm just me though I know I have my issue and Élodie seems to have her own issues, one of them being that she can't keep her legs shut. At least she's steady about using protection, unless she's not and she's had a few different trips to the clinic. I'd rather hope that isn't the case though, it wouldn't really be right. Not that I'd want her to raise a kid in this kind of environment, I'd feel as though I'd have to take the little one under my wing or something and I'm not ready for that.

I shake my head, breathing a sigh before I set the bookmark where I last was and I close the book completely. It hasn't really given me any answers I might need so far and I don't know that it will but unless I give it a good read, I won't know. It helped one of my older friends with her family problems and I'd think that if she can find answers in that book about her problems, I should be able to find answers for my own issues in there too.


	11. Migration

This is one of the reasons why I don't much care for technology though I know it makes most of our lives easier. Now and again though, this will happen. I was preparing to transfer a few new bought movies, I connected to the movie drive and nothing happened. I had to muck around with the thing for a while, rebooted it several times and only once did my computer ever manage to connect to it. I did the only thing I could. I left it online, knowing that, at least, that way, I would be able to read my stored files from it.

The issue I have is that this equipment is nearly brand new. Nearly. I suppose it might be a couple of years old so in terms of technology there's nothing new but it annoys me that it would decide to stop working just now, without so much as a warning. It isn't dusty, there's no clogging of dirt in there, the ventilation is good, I just don't get it. I tell myself that maybe it didn't like being shipped from the states to France but honestly, that would make no sense. I would have bought it here but I didn't find the one exact model I wanted. Plus, that was a couple of years ago now already so it couldn't have been that.

I looked online, searched for another hard drive like the one I had as it had, up to that point, done an absolutely beautiful job. I found one, tried to see if I could find it here in France, found no close by retailer though I found one seller in England. Bought it and now I was left with a wait-for-it case. I didn't know that I'd be able to use the drive for our next shared meal if it wasn't replaced by then but I could only cross my fingers.

If it came down to it, I could get us reservations in a big restaurant somewhere and we'd go watch a late-evening movie. It wouldn't hurt and it could be interesting, depending on the kind of movies that were playing in the theatres at that point of course.

I was still tinkering with the drive when Lex stepped into the brightly lit movie-room. We usually never had all the lights on in this room and I could only assume that he had been curious as to what I'd been doing in there.

"I might have a somewhat slighter drive that I don't use in my things, it can still hold a pretty good amount of data, might want to try to migrate it from yours to mine, just in case? You can unplug it then and see if there's something physically wrong with it?"

I was more than a little grateful that he'd offered that much, I really was. I hadn't thought to ask him if he had anything left from his moves. I had known him to have a few different laptops before, for his works, but nothing that had the capacity of the drive I was using to store all those movies. "That might actually save my life. The power keeps on trying to flicker off and I don't know if I'd be able to get it back online if that happened. I don't want to lose all those movies. I know I could just get them all over again but there are years of buying and collecting in that movie."

I'd spent a lot of time on this. When movies first started coming out to be watched at home, I bought those that way. The VHS, then the DVD type, then the Blu-ray. When computers came about and the ability to 'rip' a movie to the computer became available, I saw about transferring all of my movies, at least the ones I had in format that could be transferred. The rest I bought directly online. I knew I wasn't doing anyone any harm. I owned all the movies I had ripped into my computer and I wasn't letting anyone else borrow them or take them from me in any way, it was for my own viewing pleasure.

Lex stepped back out of the movie room, off into my own studio, something that surprised me as I hadn't expected him to put any of his electronics in there though it made sense since he couldn't really keep anything in his refrigerated work room for safety purposes.

He came back out with an external hard drive. I hooked it up to the main computer, the one I used for the movie database and instantly the machine saw it, installed the drivers and connected it properly. Once that was done, I selected the whole collection of movies I had and set to copy them. I didn't really want to chance moving them and something crashing, files getting corrupted and whatnot. 

This whole deal made me realize that I should have paid more attention, I guess. I went back to the website where I'd ordered the new hard drive from and sent them an email, asking them if they could add another one to the order. Double the order but at least that way I could back everything up. If one failed, I'd still have the other one on hand and I hoped to everything that might be willing to listen to me that it wouldn't honestly be fair or right that both new drives might fail at once, that would just be absolute bad luck.

With the email sent, I went back to the movie room, just to make sure the copying process was keeping up a fair pace. I'd expected Lex's external drive to be slow to transfer the stuff but it was working at a pretty fair pace, I was glad for that. Of course it would take a few hours to copy everything but I could live with that, so long as everything was copied without a fault.

Now that the older drive was being in use and not just in standby, it seemed to be holding steady, not trying to shut itself down. I uttered another slight prayer that it would keep up that wonderfully good work and I let it be. My hovering nearby would certainly not fix anything and it wouldn't get the files out and about in the external drive any faster.

When I checked my computer an hour or later, I'd received confirmation that the second drive was going to be added to the shipment, I was sent another invoice and I confirmed everything. They already had my credit card and I knew they'd cancel the first order and set in the second one. At least, that's how most places worked and I hoped that much. If they tried to scam me, I'd just work that out then but the people I'd written with so far at this point had seemed honest enough. Of course I can't really read honesty through emails and typed words but I've been around a lot of people who tried to scam me and some of the tiny little details never really change, they can be picked up on well enough.

  


It took well into the evening before the files had been copied over into the external drive. I checked the file size and the number of files on both drive and they matched, I knew at the very least that there hadn't been any issues with the copying of the stuff. It was comforting. 

I unhooked the external drive then let the movie drive power down. I didn't even try to see if I could power it back up again, I saw no point. I'd hook everything up with the new drives whenever they were delivered and I'd work with that. There was nothing else for me to do but wait at this point and though I hated waiting for these particular things, I tried not to focus too much about it. They'd be delivered in time.


	12. Steam

The library, at this point in time has settled on mostly being empty. That tends to be the case around this time of the year and I'm not all that surprised. The heating system doesn't fully work and some areas are just colder than others. At this point, I assume that the heating works mostly fine but that the windows aren't sealed properly and they're letting in drafts. People have complained about the poor heating quality of the place and I can only tell them what I've told them for years. The cold-season returning visitors know this but the new visitors need to be told again and again.

We're doing what we can but we have no control over the building itself, the heat is on and its doing all it can to keep the place warm but for one, there's not enough heaters for the whole place and for two, with what I'm certain are the windows not being sealed properly, there are drafts and it's even colder in here than usual.

If it weren't for the fact that I do need money for food and clothes and eventually gifts—that one leaves me feeling so giddy, it's been years since I've had gifts to offer—I would simply tell Eoghan that the library just can't be kept open. I've already asked him to have someone come around to turn the water off, if we need to use the bathroom, we do so at home before we leave and if it's absolutely necessary to go during the day, we step over to the small café, they're understanding enough of our situation. If we keep the water on, I get the feeling that the pipes might just freeze and burst, we can't have that. This place is falling apart even faster now and I don't know how I'll handle it until Eoghan has the old church fixed up right and proper and all of the books moved.

The twins stepped out about five minutes ago, bundled up to their throat. We've only really taken off our heavier coats while we're inside, we still all wear our scarves and gloves and a thick long-sleeved shirt to get around, the air is chilly but not bitingly cold and there is a heater almost directly behind the front desk, it helps.

As Cyrille steps back up with the desk, empty-handed now that he's done putting books back where they belong, the twins step back inside. Agni is carrying a tray with four steaming cup and I feel a sort of relief find me at the thought of sipping on something hope. Mira has himself a small bag and I assume that those might just be pastries.

The owners of the coffee shop next door have been around for a while and they know how poorly things tend to go in this building once the season cools down and they're always more than willing to drop off with a hot cup of tea and some pastries. At least, they used to. Now with the twins or Cyrille heading over every afternoon, almost like clockwork, they don't really need to.

Agni hands out the cups of steaming tea about and I curl my fingers about mine, letting its heat bring warmth to my fingers. Gloves or not, it's uncomfortable to be in this place and the fingers are usually the first ones to really suffer. Mira digs through the bag and sets out four identical pastries on the counter, each with its own little paper to keep the old wood from the desk safe from stains.

"I don't think we'll be seeing anyone this afternoon, I'm pretty sure we're supposed to be getting some snow in an hour or so. It should warm the temperature up a bit and make this place a bit more manageable but for now, we're all pretty much frozen stiff. I vote we set up the panel on the door in case someone comes by and we head on home, anyone have any objections?"

Cyrille shakes his head as he looks around the desk, I nod at his unspoken question when his eyes land on me. "All the books have been put away, everything is in its place, there are no books coming in until New Year, I told Eoghan I'd refrain from ordering new books until then since I didn't want to have more stuff to pack up than there already is. He said he wouldn't have minded but he's already doing so much for this place that I don't want to add more to his work load."

The twins each shrug in turn, Agni busy stuffing the pastry into his mouth with big bites and Mira watching his brother pig himself out from behind the steam of his cup, his lips quirked into an amused sort of smile. "I don't mind heading home, we'd planned on heading out after work to go and buy a few things, early decorations and all and I guess we could do it now while it's still mostly clear out and before the storm hits us."

Agni, licking his fingers clean nods and Cyrille chuckles softly before he nods as well. "I don't mind doing that, I know just where to go, you guys get to pick what you want and we'll find means of getting it to fit in the car, if it doesn't we'll see about getting it delivered. I want these holidays to be the way you two want it."

"It has some of you in there too!" Mira's softly indignant tone makes me smile. I shake my head, these three are adorable together and I know they're good for one another, it's nice to see them all stick close together, the way family should. I know Cyrille has siblings, I've spoken to him before I ever met the twins, he didn't open up much then and I know he probably wouldn't tell me much more now but I've always noticed him spending a lot more time at the library during the holiday seasons than any other time, it's a little sad.

"No pastries in the car though, at least not being eaten, so if any of you, Agni excluded because he's an adorable little piglet who's already eaten his, want to eat that pastry, better do it now before we head off." Agni shoots Cyrille a look, sticking his tongue out moments later.

"I'll drop mine back in the bag and I'll keep to my tea for now." I feel as though the pastry might do better warmed up a little, I like them when they're just warm enough that they get a little gooey, as though they might be freshly baked and just moments ago plucked from the baking sheet.

Mira and Cyrille both eat their pastries, taking their times to actually appreciate its taste and before long, we all have our coats on and we're all inside Cyrille's cold but warming up vehicle. There's the sign on the door, said door is locked, the windows are as closed as they'll ever be and that's that. I think the only window that doesn't have itself a draft going on is the one that was replaced by Eoghan's working crew when whoever it had been had broken into the library and caused that huge mess. It's sad really.

The kids drop me off at the apartment, I step up to the door and I wave them off before I step inside, feeling the warmth of the building as a whole already ease into my skin and my bones. It's so nice to be able to come home to a place that offers warmth and comfort this way. 

As I step inside my apartment, I look around the wide open area of the living room and I tell myself that maybe I'll ask Eoghan if he might not mind driving me about while I pick up a few small bits and decorations for the holidays. I've never really celebrated, at least not until Andoni had come into my life and since he's been gone, I've gone back to not celebrating. I know it's not really the way to go about my life and I guess I'm due for a change.


	13. Intense Flavour

The scrunched up look on his face was priceless. I supposed I shouldn't have been amused but I couldn't honestly help myself. There still was so much stuff out there for them to discover that when we found something like this, I just wanted to remember every last bit of it. I felt like I was part of this family, more than I've felt I was part of my own, Magali aside.

After we dropped Armin back home, we set off to this one place. They mostly sell stuff for decorating. Vases, candles, chairs, mirrors for the walls along with more stuff than I could ever care to want. During the holiday seasons, or usually a little before the holidays, they bring out the specific stuff, trees (the fake kind), garlands, lights, dangles of every kind. I figured it would be the best place to bring the twins to so they could see what it was mostly all about. At least, I think this place has more choices than most other big places for a pretty reasonable price. That and at the counter, they usually have little containers of candies.

We looked around, they picked stuff up, decided on this and that, Agni glared at me until I picked a few different items I liked too. Most of the smaller stuff was going to fit in the trunk, it would mean one very full trunk but the tree, they'd picked this gorgeous black tree with lit fibre optic tips that went through quite a few different colours, wouldn't fit in my trunk and I wasn't going to drive home with it on my roof, not with the snow that had started to fall by the time the cart was pretty much full.

After a little discussing, we split the cost of everything three-way and we asked for the tree to be delivered at the proper address whenever it would be convenient for them. We still had some time before the decorations would go up and I wasn't really worried about it.

As the twins started moving towards the door with all of the elements in the cart bagged up, I saw a container of sour gummy worms. I bought it on impulse, kept the bag to myself. We headed out to the car, stuffed the trunk, even stuffed half of the back seat and we went home.

When we got home, I gave each of the twins one of the worms. That's when things turned out to be pretty priceless.

  


"What did you give us exactly?" Mira still was looking at the worm in question. He'd sniffed it, tugged at it, stretched it but he hadn't put it in his mouth yet. Agni, on the other hand, had shoved it in his mouth, much as he had the pastry earlier, honestly, and he'd almost instantly gone bug-eyed when he'd first bitten into it.

I laughed, I couldn't help myself. I laughed loudly and Mira set the worm down on the counter. I snickered as Agni screwed his eyes shut but kept on chewing and eventually he swallowed what I'd given him. "That was pretty intense, huh?"

He glared at me but I could tell it wasn't heartfelt.

"That was sour." He muttered, but, wonders of wonders, he actually held his hand out for another one, I offered him another one. This time he bit at it, just taking a small piece of it into his mouth instead. "Flavour's nice but really sour."

"Well they are sour gummy worms. They're candy. I would have loved to see Mira's reaction but I guess that based on yours, he figured he didn't care to eat the stuff." I used my best teasing voice and Mira rolled his eyes at me, as if to tell me that this wasn't going to work and he wasn't going to eat the stuff.

"Come on, if I eat one too, will you eat yours? Just one, if you don't like it, you don't have to eat another one ever again. You can't know if you like it or not if you don't give it a try." He grumbled but eventually he gave in, taking the gummy from the clean counter. He bit off a small piece to chew on. Agni was already done with his second one by now and was demanding a third.

"Only a couple more, Agni. This is pretty much sugar and nothing else and I don't want you getting sick if you eat too much." So I did give him a couple more and I closed the container. I'd bring it in my room. I'd learned early on from them that what was in our room was sacred in a way that no one could go for it except the person whose room it was. I thought that was a pretty good rule.

Mira's face scrunched up slightly from the sour taste of the candy but he ate the rest of it. "I don't know, it tasted a little artificial."

"I guess it can if you're not really used to it. I don't mind, at least you tasted it, wasn't so bad though, right?"

"Not so bad, just didn't taste like real fruits."

"While it's meant to taste like fruits, I don't think they could ever really manage to get it to really taste like the real stuff. Now if you'll excuse me." Agni was already done eating the other two gummies I'd given him and he looked ready to ask for more so I took the container into my room, putting it in one of my desk drawers.

When I stepped back out, they were beginning to look through the boxes of stuff and the bags, I chuckled softly, standing back to let them just dig through as they wanted. "We're going to need containers to put all this stuff away when we're not going to be using it, you know."

They both looked up at me as if I'd just told them that they'd forgotten to answer several important questions on a test. I laughed softly, shaking my head. "We can go tomorrow and have a look around, find a container or two in which we can stuff all of this. For now it can stay out here. Now if we had a cat in this place or even a dog, I wouldn't really be willing to leave the stuff out in the living room as it could be dangerous for them but seeing as it's just the three of us, I think we're good and safe."

That seemed to ease their sudden worries and they went right back to looking through the bags, pulling everything out. I was at least glad they were leaving the smaller decorative pieces either in their boxes or bag, I couldn't begin to imagine what the place might have looked like with little decorated and sparkly balls all over the floor. We wouldn't have known where to step.

I leave them to their discovery of their decorations, heading off into the kitchen to see about preparing us something healthy to eat. Gummy worms were one thing but they were far from healthy and it wasn't something that could just be eaten to replace a meal, after all. It was nice to know they were enjoying themselves, discovering that new kind of life they could really have now that they weren't on the streets, either on the run from whoever had killed their family or just not able to afford a roof over their heads.

For reasons that still baffled me, I found myself wanting to keep them safe, I found myself wanting to keep them healthy and I knew that most of what I felt I couldn't really help with. Still, I'd do my best to give them what they deserved even if in a way, it wasn't even my job as it was. I was making it my job to give them these things and to help them learn about anything and everything they might want to learn about.


	14. Doubt

After managing to get untangled from his mess of knotted yarn, Mira had given it another try. He had kept the newly rolled yarn very close to his side, wanting to make sure there would be no other incidents like the one he had put himself through. He was rather thankful for Cyrille's help, had told him as much once he'd been untangled completely, just before he'd been left on his own.

He had worked several more hours on his personal project, knowing that if he didn't work on it during most of his free time, it was likely he never would get done in time for the holidays. This wasn't something he was looking forward to, he wanted to give this one particular gift to his brother and he wanted to do that at Christmas.

He paused after a couple of hours, looking at the long whatever it was that dangled from his working needles. He was no expect, it was uneven in places and there almost looked to be holes in other places. It was ugly, he knew it was absolutely ugly and he loathed himself for being able to admit it.

Could he give something this ugly to his brother as a gift? He wanted something special, handmade but obviously this wasn't going to work out. As it was, it was barely wide enough to be considered a blanket though it certainly was long enough. Maybe if he finished up this one, did another one and then another, he could try to find means to stitch it all together, or whatever the term was for knitting things together.

Tired and exhausted from his ordeal with the untangling and then who knew how many hours of knitting without much of a pause, he put it all away, carefully as he did so. He didn't really want to ruin it though it was ugly enough it felt ruined all by itself. Without so much as a glance back to the whole red lump sitting not far from his bed, he rolled over and curled up, willing himself to sleep.

  


When morning came, Mira eased out of bed. His legs wobbled briefly under him, reminding him that he'd spent a couple of hours, at least, standing still, trying to untangle himself until Cyrille had come to help him. He sat back down on the edge of his bed and massaged his feet and calves briefly. He felt absolutely exhausted and had a feeling he looked it. When he looked at the bundle of red knitted yarn, sadness swelled in him. He wouldn't be able to pull it off, he wouldn't manage this blanket even with all the time in the world. Those were the words that swam around in his head as he went into the bathroom to wash up a bit and came back out again to his room to dress up for the day.

As they all piled up in the car, Mira still nibbling at a piece of toast since he'd gotten up almost late, compared to the rest of their little household, he tried not to think about the yarn, about that blanket that wouldn't be. He pushed it as far as he could out of his mind and forgot about it for the time being, at the very least for the rest of his day.

The chilled air in the library helped to keep him moving. Despite the heaters, most of the windows were letting in little drafts of more than cold air. He kept his coat on for the first hour or so but his constant moving back and forth to get books placed back where they belonged eventually warmed him enough that he hung his coat up with the other three. He rubbed his arms over his covered arms to make sure he was sufficiently warm without and went back to placing books.

"How did it go last night after the untangling?" Cyrille eventually stepped up to him, picking up books from the cart to help place them up. Some went to places Mira couldn't reach and he was glad for a little bit of help, it was better than no help at all.

He shrugged however, rubbing his eyes. His lack of sleep was trying to catch back up to him, it was somewhat unpleasant. "It looks terrible, it's not wide enough to be a blanket, I've dropped loops and doubled some without meaning to and it's just, it's ugly."

Cyrille frowned as his somewhat younger friend choked slightly on his words. He could understand how much it meant to want to create a gift with his hands. He'd done it once or twice with Magali, with poor results since, much like Mira it seemed, he'd picked projects that he wasn't exactly good _and_ he'd started them far too late and too close to the gift-giving season.

Reaching out, Cyrille rubbed a hand along Mira's shoulders and back, offering all he could. A comforting touch and a smile, it was all he had. "I can't help you much about that, I could offer you to take a look but a look is all I could give you. Have you thought about asking Quentin for a little bit of help?"

Not that he knew about Quentin's gift as it was but he had seen the green tie-dyed blanket in Eoghan's living room, had been told Quentin had made it so it made sense to ask this one particular soul about that kind of thing.

"I don't know, Cy, if I do that I'll feel as though I haven't managed to make it for him and I don't want to ask Quentin to help me with this, he might not want to." Again, Mira rubbed his eyes, this time in frustration and to fight back against the tears that were threatening to overwhelm him. He didn't want that, he couldn't have that. It wasn't right and he wasn't that weak.

"I'll try to find something else to make for him. I'm honestly just going to unravel the whole thing and roll it back up into its ball and I might start again after the new year, do it slow and steady, that way I might have a chance at managing something that isn't going to be completely ugly for the next holidays, or maybe our birthday."

With a sigh, Cyrille shook his head though he leaned down and kissed Mira's cheek softly. "Whatever you decide to give him this year, I'm sure he'll love it. He's your brother, Mira. You two are closer than I wish I could have ever been to my own twin sister. You might have had a bit of a rough patch lately but he's come around and that's what matters. He'd give you the moon or at least try to if you asked him and I know you'd try to do the same for him."

Mira, without a warning, turned to his friend, latched onto him in a hug and sniffled a little against that shoulder. He shivered at the present chill and Cyrille curled his arms about those lightly trembling shoulders. It was heartbreaking in a way for how sweet it was, how much it seemed to mean to these brothers, those handmade gifts. At least to Mira so far, that was. He hadn't really seen or heard much from Agni about gifts and about whatever it was he might have been preparing for the holidays.

After a few moments, Mira eased back, rubbing his eyes again. He managed the hint of a smile up to his friend. Cyrille chuckled softly, reaching out to muss the teen's hair lightly. "You look like you've barely slept last night. Leave the unraveling of the knitting for another day and try to get some sleep when we get home, have a nap before supper."

"It's my turn to cook."

"I'll take over, I can do that much for you, I'd be afraid you'd fall asleep in the kitchen and then what?"

"M'kay, thanks, Cy."

"You're welcome."


	15. Been There Before

I don't know why I let it happen every time. I think this is one of those things where I just don't learn. This happens every year when I'm in this particular business. I've been in this situation too often and I've obviously not learned a single thing from it. My inbox is overflowing with commissions request. At the very least, unlike past years, I'm not going to just go ahead and accept them all. I'm not crazy, I'm not stupid.

That and I want to spend as much time as possible with Eoghan, to help him along with the converted church project. I'd feel that this is more important than these commissions but I know I can't just turn them all away. I do this job for a living, so to speak, while I could turn it off without much of a thought, since I honestly don't even need the money I make from it, I don't. It's not how this world works. When someone offers goods, they can just walk away as they might want to but it's not exactly the best of ways to go about things, it's actually a pretty shitty way to go about things.

When I woke up this morning, I didn't expect to find my inbox jam-packed with so many emails. I check it every day. I suppose it might be because I set up the reminder on the website last night before I settled into bed, letting people know that I would only take commissions for one more week. I should have also written down that I wouldn't take anything bigger than a certain size and nothing more detailed than my usual work.

Some of these requests are absolutely outrageous, I don't see how people can believe this could be done in just a few hours. Some folks out there don't seem to really think with their heads at all.

One of the email in particular was for a dozen life-sized skulls with filled in brain cavities. I suppose I could have managed that well enough in a week's time or so but the guy was wanting them for the following day. For one, I don't even have a skull mould. I would have needed to either create one or buy one and that would just add to everything else. Now if he'd asked for little skulls or just one of them, I could have sculpted one out of a huge chunk of chocolate but most certainly not a whole dozen of them, not even if the brain cavities hadn't been requested as filled by something other than chocolate.

Eoghan was looking over my shoulder while I mulled over which commissions I could take and which I had to politely decline. He laughed as I opened up the skull one. "Does this guy think you do commercial work? I mean, does he think you're a factory or something and he only has to tell you what he wants for you to somehow and magically send that information down to your workers and they'll get it done in a blink?"

"Some people just see 'you have one week left to order!' and they forget everything else. That and they only think about their own needs. I don't know what he wanted a dozen full-sized skulls for but I just can't do that one."

"Honestly, Lex. You need to stop getting yourself stuck in this situation every year." His voice was soft, a light hint of teasing somewhere in there and I shrugged with a wry note. I knew it was my fault, I knew I should have set the deadline up earlier and I should have set clearer details. The attorney part of my brain was laughing at me for how poorly I'd set myself up. At least I'd set myself up this year, on my last year before I stopped and turned back to law I'd forgotten to set up the note to remind people that I wouldn't be taking commissions during the holidays and I answered calls every single day without fail. I had to turn all of them down and eventually I just turned my phone off altogether.

When I checked my messages, the inbox was full and that was just another sad, sad day in my life where I flushed them all out without evening listening to them.

I'm not here to cater to the folks who seem to think that 'last minute' is a good time to request really complicated stuff that they could have thought about at least a couple of weeks earlier if not a month or two. I have taken commissions where the buyer asked me to hold on to the completed piece until a certain date where they'd then come by to pick it up. That much I can do and I do more than willingly. The rest, well not so much.

"Open this one, I want to see this one." He was pointing at one email in particular, it's title was 'wedding favours'.

I opened it up, a little bit curious. I've done party favours before, little bags with four or five small pieces of stuffed chocolate inside but that had been about three dozen small bags and the request had come a month before it had been due.

"You're kidding me." Still standing over my shoulder, Eoghan scanned the email and scoffed at what he read. "Is this woman for real?"

She had to think she was, here was an email demanding, not even asking, to have four hundred boxes of mixed chocolate of a particular kind for her wedding over the holidays. She went on to describe what exactly she wanted in the chocolate and how exactly she wanted them done, not a single mention of when those were required until the very end of the email. At this point I'd figured that she might have wanted them around the twenty-fifth but no, she was demanding to have them on the fifteenth, five days from now, so she could check them all over to make sure they were in good order and the quality was right.

Four hundred boxes with ten pieces of chocolate in them. Each piece different, three-quarter of them stuffed. This one seemed to think I was a factory or something. 

"I wanna answer that one!"

I shook my head with a wry note. "Let's not, Eoghan, who knows what you might think you can get away with saying, you're a smart-ass on your good days and I think today might be one of your better days so I'll just answer her myself."

He huffed from above my shoulder, whining because he knew I'd let him get away with that for the time being. Eventually he rolled his eyes and kissed my cheek. "Okay, okay, still, don't let her off easy, I'm sure she's stressed about her big day but it's no reason to go about those last details the way she is."

"I'll be firm but gentle and tell her that if she wants what she's asking for, she'll have to turn to a full on chocolaterie with a whole team to get her request done because I wouldn't be able to get it done in time for her."

"You mean her demands."

"Same thing, really, just different timeline and different haughty ways to write things out."

"You're too good to this woman. I hope the poor sap she's marrying knows what they're getting into. Though maybe they're from the same kind of circles and they're completely perfect for one another."

"Since when have you been a love expert?"

"Since never, I'm just saying. What about that one email?"

He was pointing at another one and I turned my attention to it. I knew I'd have to read all of those emails before I did send out answers to tell people whether or not I could get their requests done. I really need to stop doing this to myself, it's more stressful than it really needs to be.


	16. A Castle

"What about this one, Quentin?" Yael was looking through a few different books on castles, mostly the castles they had around in the country. None of them where anywhere close to where they lived and would require at least a little trip out but maybe, just maybe they could make it a one-day trip, leaving early in the morning and coming back more than likely rather late at night. So long as the food distributors worked and the litter-boxes were cleaned before they left, there really wouldn't be any issues.

"It doesn't look like much of anything if you ask me." Quentin put his own book down, a magazine more than a book, and he looked over. "Isn't that in the United Kingdom too?"

Yael blinked and looked down at the little label under the photo. "It's in Ireland, actually. I was sure I was still in the local castles chapter, I must have moved past it without really realizing it. Guess none of the ones around this place are really appealing to me."

He shook his head, a wry smile offered to his companion as he went back a few pages to at least get back up to the beginning of the chapter on the castles found in France.

"We don't have to visit a castle, you know. We could just head back to the spa or just book up a carriage ride. That could be something, just the two us, a blanket on our lap, the guy up front with the reins and the horse or horses, just a quite ride in that huge park out there, I bet it'd be pretty sweet."

"We could. It's just I recall that visiting a castle was the first thing that ever made it onto our joined traveled list." Yael shrugged, looking down at the book on his lap a moment before he was simple closing it and putting it down on the low table in front of him. "I don't know anymore."

"Here's to another idea. We just enjoy ourselves a whole day of doing nothing. We wake up, we eat a nice, warm breakfast and we head back to bed or we head up top and watch the snow fall for a while. Maybe we can have a swim. Later at night, we can have ourselves a bubble bath to just relax. Just no worrying about the garden, no fussing about anything."

Yael still didn't look convinced but he managed a chuckle when Quentin flopped down across his lap. Worry replaced near immediately with amusement as the younger demon shook his head and looked down to his mock-lap warmer. "I guess we could do that. Just spend an evening cuddling by the fireplace, the tree up there in the corner, all beautiful and decorated, the gifts under it, hot tea or hot cocoa depending though we both know chocolate isn't such a good idea for either one of us."

"We can work out every little detail as the time draws nearer. I know our trips out there are a little limited right now because of our rather fluffy company though we both know we could ask the twins or even Eoghan to look in on them every day. I know I don't feel good leaving them behind for more than a day or so and I'm sure you feel the same. We have our whole lives ahead of us. We can just take things slow for now, stay home, go out now and a gain and in a decade or two we'll travel the world and see what it has to offer us."

He still wasn't moving from that lap at this point, comfortable and mostly amused by his position. It usually was Yael in this position, settled close and nestling up though never quite across the lap this way. This was new and it was different, it was amusing.

Yael reached out, his nimble fingers working loose the headband Quentin wore to keep his hair out of his face and set it down and out of the way. He then worked those fingers into his companion's hair, massaging the scalp with slow, precise motion. Quentin breathed a deep sigh of content, letting his eyes flutter shut.

This was just one of those things, he knew Yael felt the same, hair being played with this way and scalp being massaged was wonderful though rare enough. He relaxed and let himself melt under the gentle care of his not-quite lover, feeling any tension he might have felt up to that moment vanish and melt away from him.

He murmured mindlessly for a few moments before he quieted down, letting their shared silence surround him. It was hardly a bad sort of silence, it was a silence he was more than a little comfortable with.

After some time, neither one of them much caring to keep track, Yael moved to tip Quentin's head back lightly, just barely, he eased closer then, pressing his lips to his companion's own in a soft, gentle sort of touch. He broke their contact, just a hair's width, after a few moments. He smiled against Quentin's lips, breathing out a soft chuckle. "I love you."

The words, not often offered though always heartfelt earned another sweetly pleased sigh from the flopped one who reached out and snagged his hand to Yael's shoulder, tugging himself back up and seated on that lap. This too, was unusual, it usually was Yael, despite his height, who was settled on Quentin's lap.

"You're my world. I don't know how I survived without you in my life before." Quentin's words were murmured as close to Yael's ear as he could get before he was settling just so, nuzzling against that throat and closing his eyes. He knew they didn't need fancy dinners, didn't need castle visits or spa trips though they were always a nice extra. Just being able to spend time together was all that he really needed and he hoped it was the same for the man he adored to no end.

Yael squeezed him, his arms about that waist, just hugging him tightly before he sighed and closed his eyes as well. "Let's not move for some time yet." It was so quiet in their home, no cats running amok, no kettle on the edge of boiling, no storm outside, just the soft and slow fall of a light lair of snow. The fire in their fireplace was crackling and that was the loudest thing around, they didn't even have music playing.

Quentin hummed his answer against that throat as he relaxed right where he was. This was perfect, this was just the kind of thing he needed and wanted, he could never have asked for anything better in life. 

Blindly, he reached out, fingers brushing across Yael's chest, down his side and along until he found that hand he had been seeking. He curled their fingers together and breathed another sweet note of content. This was it. Castles could wait until they were all in ruins so long as he could have some time like this now and again, a little every day would have been perfect but he knew that might have been asking for a bit too much, he didn't mind.

Eventually they would untangle, release one another and do something else, get food more than likely but for the time being, the quietness of the moment settled utterly, unbroken. Even when they were joined by one, then two, three then, eventually, seven little balls of warm and purring fur. Settled either next to them on the couch or curled around Yael's feet on the ground, one even settled near shoulders and head at the top of the couch. Izar's favourite spot.

Seen from afar, some might have seen the whole scene as corny but for those who had been able to be part of their not always rosy lives, they knew that this was just right, it was perfect and wonderful.


	17. Whispering

Sleep had been somewhat elusive for him. He still couldn't help but worry about what he was supposed to give his brother for their first properly shared holidays. He'd unknit the ugly thing of a blanket he'd started on, it had been an atrocious sort of thing and he hadn't really wanted to chance giving something that wrong-looking to his brother.

Usually he slept in the dark, he needed, lately, an absolute darkness to be able to rest properly. His room had been just that, absolutely dark and he knew he'd been moments from drifting off to sleep when he heard it, a tiny little _click_ from somewhere in his room. He frowned and reached for the small lamp on his bedside table and he touched it. Nothing. For a lamp that usually lit with a single touch, this was somewhat disturbing. He knew it couldn't very well be burnt out, he'd just replaced the bulb a few days back.

He reached a little further to click the light onto his alarm clock, it brightened just dully and told him it was something close to two in the morning. He sighed and pushed his blankets back. He slipped on his socks, not much caring to wear those ridiculous looking slippers he'd seen other people wear in movies. He shivered as he stepped to his door and flicked on the light. Nothing.

Frowning, Mira carefully stepped out of his room, wishing he had kept a flashlight in his room and reminding himself to get one come morning.

He tried the hallway light and still nothing. He stepped across the hall and knocked on his brother's door. He listened for a moment, snickering softly at the bit of stumbling he heard as Agni obviously had issues getting around in the dark himself. The door opened after a few moments and Mira offered his brother a tired smile. "Looks like the power's out, how about a little light while we get Cyrille? We should probably get a fire going in the fireplace, I don't know how long this thing is going to last but I'm already cold."

His words were soft, whispered and Agni stared at him blankly for a few seconds. "Agni, a flame, if you would so we can get to Cyrille? I don't have a flashlight in my room, do you?"

Finally, Agni shook his head and held one of his hands, palm up. A small flame burned there, just enough to offer them a view of where they were going. "Why are we whispering?"

His own words were quiet, whisper soft. Mira stopped halfway to the last door in the hallway and he blinked before shrugging. "I don't know, it's the middle of the night and we were all supposed to be sleeping? We'll get the fire going once Cyrille is awake, do you want to see if you can get Armin up here to join us? I figure he can get a fire started just fine on his own but I'd feel better knowing he was warm."

Agni nodded, using his free hands to rub sleep a little more from his eyes. They stepped to Cyrille's room, knowing and listening quietly. There was some stumbling and muttering, much to the twins's amusement. Cyrille opened the bedroom door, wrapped in a blanket. "I think the power's out."

"Yup, which is why we're getting a fire started and we'll all settle there, Agni will check in on Armin and if he'd rather stay in his apartment, you can help him get that fire going, right?" Agni nodded, leading them to the living room where they set a few smaller bits of wood into the fireplace before settling two big logs. Agni got the fire going, Cyrille staring at him all along.

"I'd never actually seen you do that before, that is so awesome." Agni blinked at him, laughing after a few moments as he disappeared into his room to get his bathrobe. It was thick and comfortable, easier to put on than a coat at this point. 

"Okay, I'm going to head down and check in on Armin, see if he'd rather stay down there or come up here, one way or the other, he needs to stay warm like the rest of us. I know Eoghan said we have a generator but I don't know that the batteries have much juice in them at this point so fires are our best hope, I'll see you guys in a bit."

With that, Agni stepped out of the apartment and into the slightly chilled air of the hallway.

"This brings back memories or half-memories in any case. We spent so much time out there, cold and without a roof. At least now we'll be warm soon and there's a roof over my head so I'm not all that worried." Mira sighed as he settled not far from the fire, fanning it gently to make sure it caught properly. Before long it was crackling and hot, he sighed.

"I can't say I really know what it's like to be cold and stuck outside in the winter, I've always had a roof over my head, all the food I could ever want. I grew up spoiled, in a way but I try to not act that way."

"You're going fine, you've helped us more than most anyone we've ever met and that says a lot."

After some time, Agni came back on his own, rubbing his arms with his hands. He settled in front of the fire and breathed out a soft sigh as the heat settled back into his skin and bones. "He still was fast asleep when I came in and knocked. His apartment was starting to cool down a bit. I offered to walk him up here to us but he said he'd be just fine so long as he had a fire so I got it going for him and I moved in a few bits and pieces of wood closer to the fireplace so he could have an easier access to it all."

Mira nodded, a little worried about their friend still but since the fire was going and he figured it would keep going until either morning came or the power came back on, he figured that it wouldn't be so bad.

"Now, someone tell me why we're still whispering?" Agni blinked at the pair, his head tilted to the side before he was laughing softly.

"I honestly don't know, I guess that in this case it was a matter that we were in the dark and it feels wrong to not whisper when you're in the dark." He spoke a little louder now, still not quite his usual volume but no longer a whisper. The apartment still was dark but the fire was crackling and bright, warming the three of them up just right as they sat there, side by side.

"This whole thing calls for hot cocoa and be more than happy to go and get it ready, I know we could, even without the power but I think that's too much effort. I suppose I could go and get us a few sour worms."

Agni's eyes brightened at the mention of the worms and Cyrille laughed. He excused himself for a few moments and walked his way from the fire and towards the darkness that was his bedroom. 

"You guys need flashlights!" He called out as he bumped into something in his room. He was answered by the twins's laughter. He did find the container of gummy worms and he carefully made his way back out of his room, into the hallway and down towards their source of light and heat.

"It was on my list of things to buy, to be honest. A couple of flashlights in case stuff like this happens again, we'd be at least able to find our way around a bit better and not hit our shins on everything that surrounds us." "Well that's set for now. Sour candy for everyone."


	18. Small Animals

As he looks around his apartment, he knows that the place is quiet, he knows that there is nothing to disturb his peace. A peace he finds suffocating now and again. The idea of getting a pet has crossed his mind but with his way of life, the way he has to be careful of how he moves because of his leg, the fact that he knows he more than likely would not be able to take out his dog on walks or that he'd more than likely not really know what to do with a cat, though he rather likes Yael's own, he knows he would have to go with something small, something that wouldn't require a lot of care.

That, in a general sense, shortens the potential list of life-bringing pets quite a bit. He could get fishes though he knows he'd have to clean their tank now and again as he'd have to clean up after any kind of pet. He could get a rodent but the thought gets pushed away quickly enough. He remembers the hamster that had been his class's pet when he'd been in something akin to third grade. Though its case had been cleaned very often, the smell of ammonia had always been very present. Though perhaps that had been because he'd also been sitting at the back, right in front of that cage, maybe.

No, a pet that he could look at but wouldn't really have to handle was bound to be best. Perhaps a bird could have been nice.

Armin shakes his head with a sigh, looking to the door as Eoghan knocks. At least he assumes it is the taller demon since no one else in the building really comes his way unless for issues as Agni had when that blackout had happened. He's still grateful that the teenager had woken up from a relatively deep slumber, his apartment had started to cool down from the lack of heat, the fire had warmed him considerably.

Moving away from his bedroom, Armin eases his way towards his door, tugging it open with a gentle smile to Eoghan as the man steps inside. "Were you busy?"

Armin shakes his head, knowing exactly what was being asked. Usually he gets to the door faster and only when he's in the bathroom does it take him a few minutes more to get the door, but no, he wasn't busy. "No, I got lost in my own thoughts, I guess. I was thinking about how empty my apartment feels at times. Quentin and Yael have their cats, they have one another. The twins are together and they have Cyrille around, I can imagine it's not often overly quiet. Up there you have Lex with you and Adela though I don't imagine she's very noisy. I don't know, I guess at times I feel a little lonely."

He motions towards the living room where he settles at his armchair and Eoghan settles on the loveseat. Usually they talk while at the kitchen table though he doesn't mind. Anywhere is comfortable in this apartment, so long as they can talk.

"A cat, maybe?"

"I don't know, I don't think I'd know what to do with it and then there's the whole litter box thing, I'd have to kneel down to empty it. I know I can do it but repeated and daily kneeling down makes my bones ache in a bad way. I thought about a dog too but I tell myself, how am I going to walk it? Hoop the leash around my good wrist and hope it doesn't feel like pulling me around? I don't know. I know I'm not weak, my bones are not brittle but we all know I'm not all that steady on my feet and I just don't know. A dog would also need some sort of fencing and I don't want you guys to have to do that just for me."

He shrugs, a wry smile to his lips. Eoghan chuckles softly and reaches out, patting the top of Armin's hand gently. "It's not like we'd mind setting up a fence system around the yard but I can see what you mean about the dog and the cat. Something smaller, a hamster?"

Armin shudders at the top and shakes his head, telling his story as he recalls it, with how it was when he'd been in school. That has left a scar on him and the idea of a hamster just isn't a good one.

"We could get you fishes. Most of them require minimal care and now and again when the tank needs cleaning, I certainly wouldn't mind coming down here to help you, you know that."

"Maybe I'm just not supposed to have a pet."

"Now don't talk that way, Armin. Everyone should have company in some way, I can't begin to imagine how you must feel now and again, here you are, alone in this huge apartment and we're all paired up in some ways, be it with friends or lover. It isn't really all that fair to you."

Armin shakes his head, a soft sigh escaping him. "I have no right comparing my life to yours, Eoghan. It's no fault of yours or mine, I know, that my life is the way it is. I suppose fishes might not be a bad idea though I'd thought a bird but then I told myself, that cage is going to need even more cleaning than a fish tank and I don't know that I'd spend enough time here to take care of a bird and begin to try to get it to respond to me in some positive way. Fishes might not be a bad idea."

"We could start you up with a siamese fighting fish. You'd just need one and a slight enough tank, it could give you an idea of what it would be like. Though I know some guys over in the States who do huge customized fish tanks that don't need a whole lot of care, you mostly just have to feed the fishes in there. I'm going to look them up and show you a few examples of their work, maybe that would interest you and it certainly would bring some life into this apartment."

Eoghan's eyes are bright, as if he's just had a stroke of genius and Armin merely blinks at him. "Customized fish tanks. I think I might have heard something about them or seen a photo or something in a magazine, they were standing next to this huge wall that was nothing but fishes and this other picture they were standing next to this really big gum ball machine but the top was filled with fishes with a large tube in the middle with gum balls, the text said something about how the machine was actually functional."

"I'm pretty sure that'd be them. Now this is a great idea, that could be so cool."

"Eoghan, you really need to stick to one project at a time, plus, these guys are in the States, I don't see them flying all the way here to France for one particular project, especially if they build these tanks from the ground up."

"Oh hush. I can too work on at least two projects at once though you're right, I should finish getting the work on the new library first though it's coming along really well and then I can see about getting in touch with these guys. I'm sure we could work something out. If they've flown equipment from one state to another before, I'm sure we could get them to fly stuff here. I'll see about that."

"Eoghan, don't I get a say?"

Eoghan looks at his friend for a long moment, studying him, his face absolutely serious. After a few minutes, he grins and shakes his head. "Nope, you don't get a say at all, none."

"Usually I'd say I'm screwed but I'm pretty sure you'd look at me wide-eyed and ask to know who'd done it. So I'm not. I'm doomed."

"In a very good way and you're an absolute spoilsport!"

"I'll be the judge of that, mister big projects and I suppose I just know you well enough."


	19. Flip a Coin

I don't know that I ever expected that kind of thing to happen. I admit it amuses me more than it should. They're both standing in front of the bathroom door, not budging and I suppose this is a case of trying to decide who gets to go first. I shouldn't really be laughing, since I'm sleeping in the master bedroom now, not by complete choice since it was the only room left, I have myself an en-suite bathroom so I don't really have to wait to have my turn in the shower or the bath.

These two don't usually do this but I guess this morning might be different. The air outside and in, to a point, is a bit chilly so I guess that they both want to warm up under a steaming shower. I'd offer for one of them to make use of the shower in my bathroom but I don't know that it would fix the issue. They might not want to use it.

They've been standing there for a good fifteen minutes now, not really moving from their spot. They're not even yelling, they're just staring at one another. It would have been a lot less complicated if one of them would have just let it go. They could have settled in front of the fire, keeping toasty warm while waiting for the bathroom to be free for use.

"I swear, you guys. There is the shower in my bathroom but I know you two aren't comfortable being in there, which seems a little foolish but I won't really judge. How about we flip a coin to decide who gets to go in first? At this rate, you'll both still be here in an hour and you'll both still be cold."

Mira is the first one to look at me and Agni seems to seize his chance, he steps into the bathroom and closes the door. I blink, roll my eyes and curl my fingers about Mira's wrist, tugging him away from the door. I don't head for the fireplace in the living room, I head for my bedroom and in turn my bathroom.

He follows, not complaining, not arguing. He only sighs and follows ever quietly. I feel him tremble slightly beneath my curled fingers so I stop once we're in the bedroom and I turn to him. I rest my hand gently on his forehead, no fever. He's just cold, I imagine.

I tug him into the bathroom, sit him on the small stool there and I get the shower going. I know both showers can run at once, we've done it before.

"What's flipping a coin?" He finally asks, hugging himself lightly and just now I notice how he's only wearing his boxers, not even his bathrobe the way Agni's taken to wearing around the house when he wants to stay warm. No wonder he's cold, I can't even understand how I hadn't noticed before.

I turn my back on him once the shower is going and steam begins to fill the bathroom. "A coin has two sides, when you flip it into the air and you catch it, it lands on one side or the other. Before flipping it into the air, the folks who are flipping it call a side, heads or tail. If it lands on my palm with heads facing up, whoever called heads win, thus that person would have gotten into the shower first."

I hear him ease to his feet, tugging off his boxers and easing into the shower, the door sliding shut. I try not to let my imagination get the better of me. These two are good looking, it would be stupid to not feel attracted to them. To keep myself from wanting to look in on him though the windows are frosted, I sit with my back against the side of the shower.

"What Agni did there was a cheap shot, I'd consider it cheating honestly. I know you guys don't like using this bathroom but I don't mind it one bit. It's spacious and it's comfortable, I honestly don't even know if there's even a bit of dust left from when your sister was using it."

I close my eyes, listening to the water as it falls against him, against his skin. I imagine things I know I shouldn't and I sigh a little. One of these days, I swear, I might do something I will regret. I try not to but it's so tempting now and again, so absolutely tempting.

The soft scent of the shampoo I use reaches my nose and my lips quirk slightly. "So really, Mira, whenever I'm up and around or even if I'm still sleeping and Agni is in the other shower, you can come in here and use mine, okay?"

"Okay. Though I don't know about coming in when you're asleep." His words are a little muffled and I know my own words must be muffled to him since we're talking through the glass and through the falling water. We fall quiet then, or at least, I find nothing else to say and I can't imagine he's all that interested in talking through the shower door. I'm not even sure why I'm still here, I suppose I wanted to make sure he wouldn't run off and refuse to make use of the shower if I didn't say.

After a little while, he turns the water off. I take my cue and ease to my feet, going for one of my fluffy and oversized towels. I know he didn't have his and I'm certainly not going to just let him drip all the way to his room or the other bathroom, there's no saying if Agni is done in there. I walk back to the shower door and he slides it open. I can't help but look him over briefly before I look away. I hold the towel out to him, open wide, for him to pretty much just step inside.

I don't hear him move yet but I still don't really dare look at him again. Finally I hear him step closer, his body heat all there as he steps into the towel and wraps it around his shoulders with a soft sigh.

"I float in this thing."

I finally look at him, taking a step back to be able to take all of him in. I laugh softly. He has part of the towel up on his head for his hair and it still pools just slightly at his feet. These towels are almost blanket-sized, I love them that way though they take forever to dry. "Better float than not have enough to cover you. You can pretty much just wear it to head back to your room, I don't mind."

He smiles and leans closer, he kisses my cheek, I stare at him, in confusion. "Next time though, I think you might need to come in and help me, it's always hard to get my back and Agni used to do it for me."

I blush and he laughs softly, not a mocking sound, just an amused one. "I'll think about it, Mira. I don't want you to think I might be trying to take advantage of you if I do that."

I just want to cover all my bases after all. I don't want him suddenly freaking out because I'm there with him in that shower, both of us absolutely bared and whatnot, that'd just be bad.

"Thank you for letting me use your shower, Cy."

I nod and watch him wander off to his boxers to pick those up before he's out of the bathroom, out of the bedroom and then down the hallway into his room. I think I might just need a bit of personal time before I head back out to get through with the rest of my day, whatever the rest of my day might turn out to be like. Though I could just think of something very unpleasant, like Niall wearing a speedo. Ugh. Okay, I'm good and fine.


	20. Loss of Memory

Wintery days when there is snow about and the air is cool upon waking up always seem to be a little less productive than the rest. At least, that is how he feels as he wraps an extra blanket about himself. The heating works well, the house is not all that cold but anything that is lower than a certain temperature reminds him of things he would rather not recall at all. On those wintery mornings, Quentin finds himself preferring to add an extra blanket to his morning routine when he knows he has to get up though staying in bed where it is warm and absolutely toasty would be best.

When he finally eases out of bed, finding socks for his feet though he much prefers wandering around barefoot when he can, he steps out of the bedroom. Yael has been out of bed for an hour already at least and when he'd gone, Quentin had rolled into that warm, comfortable hot spot.

He wanders out of the bedroom and goes straight for the living room where the fire is crackling, safely protected by its screen settled and locked into place. He figures that his companion is more than likely up in the garden, doing his daily rounds and for all of a few moments, Quentin ponders joining Yael up on the second floor. The garden area is warmer than the rest of the house, one of the corners of the whole place is under heated spotlights so it's even hotter than summer all year round in that particular spot.

Shaking his head, he settles in front of the fire, letting his toes get most of the heat first so he can take off his socks. He knows that he cannot keep on living with these memories, he cannot, at the very least, keep on letting them control him this way. Every time he wakes up in the slightly chilly mornings of winter, he recalls where he grew up, he recalls being cold all year round and it leaves a terrible taste in his mouth.

  


"There you are. I thought you might still have been in bed but I guess the fire might actually be hotter." Yael settles next to him as Quentin finishes tugging his socks off. He's toasty warm now though he still has his blanket over his shoulders. "I guess I got tired of being alone in bed."

"I'm sorry."

"No, that's not what I meant. I guess I got tired of being in bed, period. I couldn't sleep anymore and I knew I had to get up eventually anyway. At times I tell myself I should have gone down to live somewhere warmer, close to the equator."

"Chances are, if you'd done that, we wouldn't have met, though. I know you probably wish you could forget all about your childhood at times but I don't know how safe that would be, while it was unpleasant, I'm pretty sure that it has shaped you into who you are now and taking that away from you might change you completely."

Quentin frowns, uncertain if he'd ever really mentioned his desire to forget about his past in any way at all. Yael smiles at him, a gentle, loving smile.

"You talk in your sleep and we both know I'm a light sleeper. No, don't apologize, I'm just saying. There's a reason why I set the electric blanket on in the evenings before we head to bed, so the sheets can be warm and that you can be comfortable setting in to sleep. I love you, Quentin, I do all I can to make sure you're as comfortable with the life you have now, with me, as I can. I can't take away those memories of your past, just like you can't take away mine. We just really have to do our best to accept those memories and move on from them."

Still somewhat confused, Quentin sighs and opens up one side of his warm blanket, Yael moves and settles across that lap and the blanket is pulled securely closed again, trapping heat between them.

"One of the kids at the orphanage, when she came to live with us, she was like a blank slate. She was almost my age, maybe even closer to Sterling's age than mine but she was so slight it was hard to know. She didn't know her name, didn't know where she was, didn't know if she liked this or that. It was like someone had erased her completely, except for the basic things. She could walk, she could feed herself just fine, wash herself just fine, at least I assume on that last one unless the nuns helped her and all. But she looked so sad all the time, like she wanted to remember but she couldn't."

Quentin, still staring into the fire, tightens his arm lightly about Yael's waist and leaned back a bit more against the couch he was leaning back against for support. "I guess memory loss wouldn't be such a great thing but now and again I wish I could forget the terror or the fact that I didn't know if I'd survive another day or not. When they snatched me again two years ago, I think I was more terrified of not coming back to you so I could get to know you better than I was of them doing anything to hurt me."

He laughs, the sound a little rough and he shakes his head. "I was so curious to know more about you, to understand who you were and what was going on in your head, though I wasn't ready to admit any of it to myself."

Yael chuckles softly against Quentin's throat as he closes his eyes and nestles a little closer. "At that point, I was more afraid of you coming home and finding out that I'd gone places I shouldn't have gone, I didn't know what to do with myself so I didn't go much of anywhere, mostly my bedroom and the living room. I spent most of my time curled on the couch, just waiting, hoping and wanting you to come home. Then you did but you were so troubled. It broke my heart to see you this way. I didn't know you well enough to try to help you, I didn't want to push you and end up back in the street."

"I didn't know what to do with myself when I came back from there, I just wanted to forget the world existed. When you gave me that journal though, that changed my life. At least once I stopped telling myself it was stupid and I started using it. I'm so thankful for that. You've saved my life, Yael."

"I think we saved one another's life." Yael laughs softly again and relaxes where he's at. The crackle of the fire, the presence of Quentin against him, their almost matching breathing pace. He could have slept where he was though he knew he had a world of things to do still before the day was over. For a little while however, he knows that he can just stay where he's at, until the heat becomes a little dizzying. Then he'd move but until that very point, he was staying right where he was at.

"Thank you for giving me a chance, Quentin. If you hadn't invited me in to come live with you, at least for a little while, I wouldn't be here anymore, I'm pretty sure. I don't know how I'm supposed to repay you though I'll figure this out in time."

"Yael, every second of this life that I get to spend with you is enough as far as payment is concerned. I just want us to be together in the end. I want nothing else. Just us, every morning, every afternoon, evening and night until the end of everything. I'm not complete without you and that won't change any time soon. I can promise you that much." He pauses and sighs, a soft, content note. "Being with you helps me forget the bad."


	21. A Great Discovery

On their way home from buying just a few small extra things they needed both for their pantry to for decoration and wrapping purposes, Mira had noticed a small book in the yarn section of the store. It had yarn on the top but the woman pictured wasn't holding knitting needle, she seemed to have been holding little hooks. The title had been about crochet, whatever that had meant. Intrigued, Mira had taken it and wandered back towards his brother and their friend as they exited one particular aisle.

He kept the book in his hands, keeping behind the pair when they emptied their cart to pay for everything and get it bagged up. Once they were done, he set his book down, paid for it and set it to his own secured bag, putting it atop the other bags in their cart. 

The season was colder now and the twins were more than a little glad to have a place to call home as well as Cyrille at their sides, trips to the store were so much smoother now that they didn't have to wait for the bus to come by and drop them off where they needed to go. It was all so much easier to handle now.

Once home and everything brought inside. Mira stopped by their decorated tree to look it over for a long moment before he headed off to his room to try to skim through a few of the pages to see if he might not have an easier time of this crotchet thing than he did knitting.

  


A couple of hours after they had come home and Mira had disappeared into his room, Cyrille looked in on him. The older teen knew Mira was still trying to figure out how to knit his way through his yarn and it was usually the only reason he kept to his room since they otherwise all spent their time in the living room for the most part.

"Mira?" He knocked on the door gently, to let the youth know it was just him and not his brother so that he didn't have to rush to hide whatever it was he was doing. "Can I come in?"

"Huh huh, sure, this is great, wow." Surprised, Cyrille stepped inside, closing the door behind him. There was Mira sitting on his bed, a large width of what he could only assume was the blanket in the work on his lap and a book closed beside him. "Either you're a knitting prodigy or you've discovered yourself a talent for something else altogether."

"Isn't it great? I found this book on crocheting at the store and I thought it wouldn't hurt if I gave it a try, look at this? This is great! It's so much easier than knitting!" 

Mira's happiness was contagious and Cyrille found himself chuckling softly as he stepped closer and looked at the growing blanket. It was wide already and he figured that all that Mira had to do was work on its length now. It did look better than the knitting had. He couldn't really spot any snags or any holes so far in what Mira had managed.

"Think you'll be able to get it done before Christmas?"

Mira looked down at how far he'd gone, not that far but still far enough though he knew he had a lot of work still ahead of him. "I'm not sure, but I bet I can give him a small something I bought on Christmas if I'm not done and I can give him this on New Years." 

His voice was quiet and thoughtful though there was a huge hint of hopefulness in his tone. Cyrille smiled down at him, reaching out to muss his hair lightly. "I'm pretty sure he'll love it whenever he gets it, Mira. I'm going to let you keep on working on that, no point in disturbing you much longer. Just don't forget to have little breaks now and again so you don't wear yourself out completely though, okay?"

Nodding, Mira beamed up at his friend and turned his attention and focus back on the work in his hands. He knew he couldn't get it done by Christmas, it was unlikely he'd manage, unless the library was closed for the holidays and he could spend most of his waking hours on his project.

Cyrille eased back and out of the door, closing it behind himself. As he turned, he came face to face with Agni and blinked at the red and black haired teen looking up at him with those curious eyes.

"Can I help you?"

"What is he doing in there?"

"It's supposed to be a surprise, Agni and you're not supposed to look in, now shoo. We leave him be."

  


By supper time, Mira appeared out of his bedroom. He was flexing his fingers lightly as he walked. His stomach announced his presence before he even could utter a single word by gurgling loudly to remind the whole world that he hadn't eaten a whole lot today yet. He blushed, shaking his head as he stepped into the kitchen where the smells of curry found his nose and settled securely in there, making his mouth water.

They didn't often eat curry but when they did, he found himself often asking for a second serving, it never failed to amuse both his brother and Cyrille. He couldn't help it. Any and all preparations of curry made his mouth water and his stomach always decided it hadn't had enough so more had to be had, that really was all there was to it.

"There he is, my long lost brother." Mira rolled his eyes at Agni as he sat at the counter. He reached for one of the fresh, warmed buns waiting there and bit into it without waiting to be given the okay. He found himself to be absolutely starving and no one was going to stop him from eating at least a little before the meal was served.

"Give him a break, Agni, I'm pretty sure that if you were trying to make some handmade gifts for Christmas, you'd be locked into your room most of the day too." Cyrille teased gentle, Agni sticking his tongue out as an answer. From the corner of his eye, Cyrille noticed Mira looking at him with a somewhat amused glance. "I swear Agni, you stick your tongue out against I might just have to kiss you to show you how you're supposed to use your tongue. It's not nice to stick it out."

Agni's face coloured into a bright red within a few seconds and Mira grinned, amused to know that he wasn't the only one being 'threatened' with this kind of thing now. It seemed only fair that both of them learned similar things though he would have been fine keeping that kind of thing between himself and Cyrille. He didn't mind sharing the knowledge.

"He's threatened me with that one before too, I haven't done it again because I bet he's a terrible kisser." Mira smiled at Cyrille, to let him know he was joking and Agni looked between the two of them, his eyes still wide and startled, his cheeks adorably red.

"You guys are so weird. Kissing someone because they're sticking their tongue out, I swear." He grumbled gently, going back to stir the pot he was keeping an eye on. "I mean, it's not weird to kiss but you guys are weird for wanting to kiss someone because they're sticking their tongues out."

"Huh huh, sure, whatever you say, Agni, just say it, you're dying to get yourself a kiss from these lips." Cyrille grinned as Agni only blushed deeper. He didn't push further though, not wanting to test his luck. Teasing was one thing but only so far, there was no point in hurting anyone's feelings, after all.

"Bah, you just keep serving the rice so I can finish plating everything before Mira eats all of the buns and leaves none for us."

"I've eaten one, oooooone."

"I know, just teasing."


	22. Moody Person

I hadn't really seen much of her in a few weeks. Since I'd settled in to live with the twins, I guess. I'd seen glimpses of her left and right but we haven't really talked. Not that we talked much while we still were both at home, she never was around. Niall had his own apartment and Magali stayed home because of the on and off cancer issues but Élodie was usually staying with whatever boyfriend of the moment she had then.

So when she bumped into my, not even accidentally I'm sure, I was more than a little surprised. We didn't always fought but at times, some things just seem to happen and they make everything turn bad. I don't know when we drifted apart but we did. I felt sad about it for a while but I got over it. We used to be close but then she discovered boys and that distance grew. We didn't fight then, she was just distant. Then I assume she might have gotten dumped for the first time in who knew how long, she came home, pissed as hell and we had out first real fight.

I didn't expect her to pull me to the side to talk to me after she bumped into me. I'd expected her to snap at me to get out of her way. She can be absolutely sweet and angelic to anyone she wants to get close to but she's a regular little hell spawn with me. So when she did pull me aside, just tugging on my sleeve like a kid trying to get their parent to look at something, I went with, I was too surprised to just stop her and tell her to let go of me. The whole library was quiet as could be anyway so it wasn't as though this would disturb much of anyone.

"When are you coming home?" Her words confused me. The family house hadn't been her home over two years at this point, at least that was how I saw it. She started coming and going by the time she'd hit fifteen or so but she had mostly disappeared as a whole from our lives around our seventeenth birthday.

"I'm not going back there, Élodie. At least not until Magali does and even then that might not happen. I'm in no hurry to go back to a place where Niall can just come out and about as he might like and beat the shit out of me because he feels like I've failed to live up to his expectations somewhat."

She looked taken aback for a few moments, her lips pulling into a frown. Years ago, I would have felt the need to reach out, brush some hair behind her ear, it usually made her smile but now I found myself not even able to reach out and touch her this way. I didn't really feel as though our connection as siblings still existed.

"The place is empty, it's boring." There was something in her eyes, I couldn't really tell what it was and I didn't spend too much time thinking about it either. I didn't want to think about it. She hadn't even addressed the issue I'd brought up about our brother, so why would I bother with the rest?

"Yeah, has to be, now you can get an idea of what it's been like living in there on my own since everyone's been gone."

"You had Magali with you, don't be selfish!"

"Selfish, Élodie? Magali spent more time in the hospital than she did at home because of her cancer, you'd know that if you bothered keeping in touch when you're not spreading your legs to whatever guy might catch your attention."

Her eyes grew wide at that point, her cheeks flamed and I felt no need to apologize for what I'd just uttered. I'd had that weight on my chest for years at this point, I'd kept my mouth shut about it all, at the very least in her face and I'd never complained about it before. I didn't need her to try to guilt trip me into going back to a house where I didn't feel at home.

"Thing is, I'm staying where I'm staying. I'm keeping in touch with Magali and so far she's doing better spending her time with Joana than she was being stuck at home with Ophé as her only companion since I worked to earn some money-"

"What's the point of working for money when we have all we want in our accounts and we'll have even more once we're twenty-one?" Her voice was almost shrill as she cut me off. I shook my head. I found this situation sad at this point, I couldn't tell if what I felt for her was pity or something else altogether.

"Élodie, this is why you'll more than likely never amount to a whole lot in life and no, don't you give me that hurt look of yours, it no longer works with me. You think you deserve everything in the world, that everything is yours for the taking and that you shouldn't have to work a single day of your life just because, oh goodness me, there's some money in your account. That's not how life is supposed to be lived."

"Magali doesn't work!"

"Oh for fuck's sake. Magali used to work until her cancer got so bad she had to stop because her chemotherapy made her unable to work. She's worked since she was fifteen otherwise so get off your entitled horse. Leave me the hell alone."

"What about Christmas?!"

I couldn't help it. She'd just stepped past the line that separated pity inducing from outright pathetic.

"What about Christmas, Élodie? You want someone to tell Santa you've been an absolute angel this year and that you deserve all the gifts on your list? Well get in touch with the parents and see if they might not feel like giving you a little extra money that you honestly don't even need so you can buy yourself even more shit you don't need."

That was it, I turned away. I couldn't handle her anymore and she was starting to put me in a bad mood. I didn't want that. I didn't want to be the moody one because the twins, and even Armin, had done nothing to deserve that. I didn't stay to watch her walk away if she did, I just walked back to where I'd come from and I apologized to Armin for disappearing without a warning.

He only smiled at me, patted my hand somewhat and told me it was fine as it was. He'd just had a long talk with Eoghan and some workers were going to begin packing up books for the building transfer so the library was going to be closed by the end of the afternoon so they could work in peace. There would be a sign posted on the door, saying that books that were due now were given a month's extension without any penalties due to the move.

I sighed, excused myself for a few moments and disappeared off into the back room. It would be empty like everything else pretty soon but it was the only place where I could be alone for a few moments. I needed to breathe, I needed to not think on everything she'd just said because it wasn't fair. 

Last I'd spoken to Magali, she'd talked about perhaps staying with Joana in a permanent way, at least, that much she told me after I'd told her how well I had settled in and how comfortable I was with the twins. I guess she thought that if I felt safe in my new environment, she could chance finally having a little happiness in her life. For a second I felt bad, I felt as though I'd kept her from being happy by sticking around at home.

But then, seconds after I'd started thinking just that, arms wrapped themselves around my waist, slight arms, a small form that pressed up against me. I laughed softly at Mira's closeness, I could see the hint of his blue scarf peeking at my side, and I closed my eyes. I curled my arms over his and let myself breathe out a sigh.

"Didn't mean to bother you, Cy, but I saw you coming in here and you looked like you could use a hug." He spoke against my back, just hugging me as tightly as he could and happiness swelled and spread its warmth everywhere through me.

"Thank you Mira. I needed that and I think I'm not going to be leaving you guys on your own any time soon. I'll tell you and Agni more about that when we get back home." Home really was the term I was going to use and it was sticking. This really was home, I belonged there with them.


	23. Clouds

The sky was clear for the first time in days. As clear as it could be. There had been an ongoing snowfall for the last few days. Not much but just enough that there was an inch, maybe two in places. It hadn't so much been a stormy few days just that the whole sky had been completely overcast. There hadn't been a hint of blue to be seen around.

Now, oh now the sky was blue with just a few bits of white fluff floating around, as if somehow they were in the middle of the summer and nothing cold could ever dream of coming about. At least that was how it all seemed to Yael, Quentin at his side, as they relaxed in a large hammock settled in their inner garden. The hammock was settled not far from the tropical end of the garden and the heat lamps and heaters kept the area humid enough that spending any amount of time in there resulted in rather heavy sweating even if all that was done was lounging about.

They had a nearly clear view of the sky above them, two floors up and it was beautiful.

"See, we don't need spa outings when we have this." Yael laughed softly, the sound clear and bright as he closed his eyes and let the heat of his surroundings settle deeply into his bones. It felt so good to be up here.

"I'm glad you appreciate the idea of setting up a hammock here."

"Well, the plants under us did need more shade and the tree I'd planted grew up so much and so quickly that it didn't give them the shade they needed, this hammock fixes that problem and it's so comfortable I could just spend the rest of my days here."

"To a point, the humidity is going to leave us pretty sticky, I think a shower after this is going to be necessary."

Quentin felt Yael grin against his shoulder and he laughed, cheeks taking on a rosy colour. He knew what was going on through that mind. It wasn't rare that their mid-day showers (usually following up heavy work in the garden just anything that left them in dire need of washing up) turned out to be a little bit more playful than their morning shower where they were more interested in warming up and waking up.

"I'm going to have to dig your mind out of the gutter again, I think."

"My mind is fine in the gutter, just look at this sky, it's so blue you'd think we're in the middle of summer."

"Well the temperature here sure helps with that."

  


After a nap and some careful moving around to get back on the pathway and down out of the garden, they had had themselves a shower, cleaning up sweat and slightly peeling skin. It had seemed as though the lamps were hot enough to act as the sun did when one spent too much time under it without any cream to keep the skin from burning.

"I can't believe we've got sunburns."

"Had for the most part in my case, though my face still hurts." Yael stuck his tongue out playfully as he finished applying a bit more cream to his own somewhat slower healing burns. He'd be fine by the end of the day but the peeling had been a bit unexpected.

"Note to self, make sure to put on some sunscreen before settling to sleep under the hammock or get one of those hoods that hide the sun and lamps in some way. I honestly didn't expect the lamps to be strong enough for that."

Quentin shrugged gently, looking at his reflection in the mirror. Still a bit of peeling skin along his cheeks but that was mostly it. It was so strange, this sunburn in almost winter but it was interesting, he couldn't complain, it was a new sort of discovery. "Now that we've had our sun-nap, we've had some cat-play time and we've had food enough to keep us going for a little while, what's next on the menu?"

Yael looked at his own reflection for a second more before he moved from their bathroom to their bedroom so he could find something to wear. "I thought we could go out back and just have a walk in the snow but until my hair is completely dry that might just be an absolutely stupid idea so we won't. I don't know. We could settle by the fireplace and read a bit, once we're all absolutely and completely dry, we might head off into the store? We're a bit short on a couple of things for the cats and they've been going through their toys pretty quickly lately so I think we might need to try a new brand and hope it lasts longer."

"Sounds like a plan."

  


They did read for a while, just settled side by side, shoulders nearly touching. Quentin with a book on textile and Yael with a brand new book one exotic plants. Not that he had the room for more in the garden but it didn't hurt to gain more knowledge about what he seemed to have an innate gift for, after all.

Once they'd been completely dry, no hint of moisture left in Yael's hair since his did take longer to dry and using the dryer was a terrible idea as far as he was concerned, they'd gone back to their room, put on something warmer to wear and had stepped out.

The air was crisp, not quite so cold as it had been in past days, it was actually comfortable outside at that point. They walked, hand in hand, heading for the bus stop, Yael's gaze still on the sky more than on where he was walking. Twice Quentin tugged him to the side so he wouldn't trip on something.

"If it wasn't for how cool the air is, I'd really be tempted to believe that we're in spring, the sky is so perfectly blue, it's weird. I can only see a few bits of fluff up there."

"If you don't look where you're going, you're going to trip and I won't be able to actually pull you out of harm's way quickly enough, Yael." Quentin's tone was quietly amused as he shook his head. Yael blinked, offering a sheepish smile as he straightened somewhat. He couldn't help but be distracted by the beautifully blue sky above him, it inspired him to want to paint so many things he didn't know where he would have been supposed to start.

"Sorry, I'll pay attention. I just feel so inspired right now, it's distracting a bit."

"Well, we get to the store, we get all we need, we come back and I let you head into your studio to see about all those wonderful things you want to paint while I unpack everything else."

"That'd be sweet, we'll see if I'm still inspired by the time we get back."

"I can go to the store by myself, I don't mind?"

"Don't be foolish, Quentin, there's a lot of little bits that we need to be getting and I'm not letting you drag it all back on your own, honestly, who do you take me for?"

Quentin grinned at those words and Yael quirked a brow. He was about to question that grin when their bus stopped in front of them and they stepped into it, easing along to settle at the back where it was quiet for the time being.

"I take you for the man I absolutely adore and would do most anything for, that's who."

"Quentin…" Yael ducked his head, cheeks red and this time not from any left over bits of a sunburn. Words like these were rare though they were always heartfelt. "Thank you."

It felt foolish to say thank you but those words were all he could think to utter at this point and he let it be. He could find better to say or do once they were home.


	24. In the Mirror

He had been staring at his reflection for a good fifteen minutes now which had, in turn, led his brother into using that bathroom he still wasn't sure he cared to use but honestly, when showers were necessary morning routines and the main bathroom was used, one had to turn to the other bathroom.

Agni frowned at his reflection, leaning closer to see if he could see anything that might look different from how he'd been just a year ago, not even a year ago at this point but so close. There wasn't much. Sure he'd started shaving though it was minimal but he didn't much care about that, it didn't change a thing in his life.

With a sigh, he stepped back and then out of the bathroom, shaking his head as he went. He stepped into his bedroom and went right to the far wall where a few lines had been marked with a pencil. They all seemed to be more or less at the same height with very little difference in between and he stared at them for a long moment. He shook his head, went to his desk, located his pencil and went back to the wall.

He set one finger to the highest mark and then turned carefully around, pressing his back to the wall so he could rest his head as close to his finger as possible. When he was settled, he straightened, holding himself just so and he rested the pencil along the top of his head, the tip against the wall and he scribbled a little line to his height. Once he was done, he stepped away and looked at the line, still just barely a smudge above the very first one he'd drawn there. He sighed and shook his head.

  


"What are you gloomy about? We're home, we don't have to head out into the cold, we've got food and we've got Cy with us!" Mira's voice was bright and pleased though he looked as though he needed more sleep, there were a few blurred lines beneath his eyes.

"I just wonder if I'll ever grow. I feel tiny next to everyone and it's annoying!"

"I personally think you guys are adorable." Cyrille's words were quiet though not without a teasing hint to them.

"I don't want to be adorable and this just sucks."

"I'm sure you're taller than you were when we first met, Agni, hell I'm pretty sure you're actually a little taller than Mira and if it hadn't been for your hair when I met you guys, I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to tell you apart, you were absolutely identical."

"Really?" Hope blossomed in Agni's heart and he stood up, snagging his brother's wrist and tugging him away from his plate despite a soft 'hey!' from him. He made Mira stand just so and stood with his back to his brother. "Am I taller?"

Cyrille was doing his best not to laugh though really it was adorable in its own way. He could understand a desire to be taller. It wasn't always easy to accept your height when you were shorter than everyone else around you. He recalled Zora, she'd had a few inches above her brothers and he could only assume that they'd grow into it. He hadn't met many families where the brothers stayed short while sisters grew taller, though maybe it was a demon thing.

He eased to his feet, stepping closer. He studied the twins a moment before he chuckled and mussed both their hair. "You do seem to have at least an inch or about on your brother, Agni. You two are fine as you are though, so you know. I'm sure you just haven't hit your growth spurt yet."

"Dad was huge!"

Mira looked at his brother a moment as he finally went back to his plate. He shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. "I don't recall much of dad or mom. I try to think back and all I see is Zora and she's always been tall. I don't mind so much of I'm short, it doesn't change much in my life honesty but I can understand that you'd prefer being a little taller, I'm sure you'll grow."

"Well, if Agni seems to recall that your father was a tall man, I'm sure you two will grow up just fine, some folks only get their spurts when they hit eighteen or even twenty." Cyrille shrugged gently, going back to his own plate after a few moments. "You shouldn't worry so much about it though Agni, honestly."

  


"Staring at your reflection is not going to help you grow, Agni. Though there are means that are supposed to be good to help teens grow a bit longer, I could get you the information if you want. Most of the stuff is stretching and I've heard plenty of good stuff about it." After breakfast, things had been put away and Mira had disappeared back into his room. Cyrille knew well enough the reason behind it but he worried that his friend was working too hard and not resting enough, he would have to do something about it.

Agni stopped staring at his reflection, looking to Cyrille a moment though he sighed. "I suppose it might not hurt to try a few exercise. I just can't help it. I look at Alexis and Eoghan and just, they're tall as can be."

"They're also very old, from what I've gathered of little bits and pieces I've heard when they talk, they're long done growing up and it's likely that their parents were also very tall. It's all in the genes, you can't just wish yourself tall and tell yourself to grow up for your body to grow. I'll get you the information I have about the stretching thing, give me a few minutes and they'll be all yours to study through and work through."

With that said, he disappeared off into his room and booted up his worn laptop. He hooked up the printer, a small, almost handheld thing he'd gotten lately since they'd been needing to print recipes, and he looked through his bookmarks to try to find that one particular website where he recalled just distantly finding the information about how certain stretches could help in the growth process.

Eventually, he found what he was looking for, set it up nice and neat in a document since the webpage was heavy with photos, videos and extras, and printed it out. He stretched as he eased out of his chair and went back out to the living room where Agni was sitting in front of the crackling fireplace.

"Here, try these on for size. You could settle into a routine with those and I'm sure they could help in some way. Now while you do this, I go to make sure your brother doesn't work himself to an early grave on these handmade gifts he's wanting to get done because he looks like he hasn't been sleeping much."

"M'kay."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Cyrille stepped away from one twin and headed off to check on the other. Mira had looked as though he hadn't had a decent night of sleep in more than a few days at this point and it worried him. He felt like a mother with these two at times and the thought actually amused him somewhat. He hadn't had the best examples of motherhood while he was growing up, so comparing himself to a mother seemed rather farfetched, really.

He glanced down to the living room one last time before he knocked on Mira's door, listening for a moment before he let himself in with a soft sigh. "You look like you've been working too hard and you need a rest, I think I'm going to have to kidnap you to my room to make sure you nap a bit before you get back to work on your blanket."

"But I'm almost done."

"And you're also exhausted, I'm worried about you, Mira. Come on, just an hour or so, please?"

"Okay, okay, I guess so."

"Thank you."


	25. Watermelon

"Eoghan?" Lex stared at one particular container in their fridge, curious but not opening it yet. He knew they tended to have different things in the fridge now and again when they were preparing for that one weekly meal but this one confused him somewhat. He couldn't recall where his lover had decided to take them in the world as far as the meal was concerned, that or he simply hadn't been told.

"Yes?" The answer came from somewhere in their little room where the washer and dryer were. Eoghan looked out a moment, a shirt in his hands, half-folded.

"Is that watermelon in the fridge?" It looked like watermelon, even sliced into sticks as it was. He couldn't begin to imagine where Eoghan had had to go to get it, they never could get watermelon in the winter and he loved the stuff. Still he was keeping himself from reaching for it since he had a feeling it was on a 'don't touch' list at this point.

"That it is, it's for tonight. We're eating African food."

"Watermelon is from Africa?" That was news to him.

"Well the information I found states that yes, it is from Africa but instead of doing African-style cuisine, I decided I'd find out what fruits, vegetables and whatnot came from Africa and then I'd prepare us a meal with that. I was thinking of starting the new year with this new method but when I got my hands on this watermelon, I couldn't help myself" He paused then, and before disappearing back into their laundry room, he added, "and you can have a couple of pieces but no more. I know how much you love that stuff but I want everyone to have some tonight."

"Thank you." Of course he was going to be grateful and thankful that he could have at least some pieces before the meal. It really was just one of those things he really appreciated as far as fruits and vegetables were concerned, it was his one favourite thing. He was well aware that most people cared little for it, claimed it was just water but he could taste the subtle notes from the thing when he bit into it.

  


"What is that?"

"Agni, you're in the dining room and I'm in the kitchen, I can't see what you're looking at so unless you tell me what 'that' is, I can't tell you what it is." Eoghan shook his head, a soft chuckle escaping him as he continued preparing the bigger portions so he could bring it all out to the dining table.

"How am I supposed to tell you what I'm looking at if I don't know what it is?"

"How about you tell me what it looks like? Honestly Agni, at times I think your exam scores are as good as they are because you somehow manage to copy your brother's own answers." He teased with a laugh as he mixed up the contents of his bowl, just moments from taking it to the other room.

"The pink squares in the salad bowl on the end of the table."

"Watermelon."

"Zora always walked right past it when we were shopping with her, remember?" Mira offered the words, his voice quietly thoughtful. Eoghan had expected the three of them to have come in early but he'd only really heard Agni so far and had then thought that just maybe, only one of three had already made it up. "The huge green things, some had seeds, others didn't. She said it wouldn't be good for us and we wouldn't like it so she'd never really gone near them."

"I don't recall that we've ever even eaten melon in any way."

"We had honeydew in the fridge last week." Cyrille laughs as Agni blinks at him, a soft frown touching his lips.

Eoghan stepped into the dining room then, a large bowl in his hands and he set it in the middle of the table. "Honeydew is a type of melon, I'm surprised you managed to find some, we usually don't even find it again until spring. I was lucky I found that one watermelon when I did."

"They seem to be getting stuff in lately that we tend to not have at this time of the year, I can't say I'm really complaining though, it's nice to be able to eat fruits in winter that we usually can't get."

"I hear you. One of you wants to help me in the kitchen? I have a few extras that I can't fit in the bowls."

"I'll help!" Agni disappeared into the kitchen without anyone having much time to offer their own help. Mira shook his head, an amused smile on his lips as he moved into the living room so he could step to the windows to simply gaze out. It was dark out but a few lights were already beginning to glow in the cool evening air. It was beautiful.

"Did anyone ever find out more about the spotlight issue?" Cyrille called out the words, just loud enough that he could be sure he'd be heard in the kitchen from where he stood next to Mira, gazing outside almost thoughtfully.

"I haven't seen anything in the news and I haven't heard anyone say anything about it. There hasn't really been any gossip about it either." Lex joined the pair, moving to settle on the couch instead of at the windows. He shrugged, leaning his head back against the couch for a few moments.

Mira turned to look at their host a moment, his head tilted lightly to the side. His voice was ever soft as he spoke, thoughtful almost. "You look like you didn't get much sleep last night, Alexis."

"Like you have any room to talk, Mira." Cyrille chuckled gently to let him know he was teasing and Lex straightened somewhat, looking at the pair after a moment.

"I tend to have issues sleeping around this time of the year, just so many accidents because of the snow and so many issues, my gift tends to make me feel a little restless, even after all of these years. It's not bad, I don't really lose sleep over it but I don't sleep as well as I could. It seems though as if I've gotten more sleep than you in the last while, Mira."

Blushing, Mira ducked his head somewhat and shrugged. 

"He's been working on a handmade gift for someone and he's pretty much been pouring his whole heart and all of his time on it. He's doing all he can to get it done before Christmas and I think he'll manage but he'll have lost sleep over it. I tried to get him to nap earlier today so there's that, at least."

"Never work yourself to exhaustion that way, Mira. Even if it's for something you believe is absolutely special and needs to be finished before that one important date. You're always more likely to make mistakes on what you're working on if you don't take some more than necessary breaks."

Mira nodded, rubbing his eyes lightly. "I'm almost done, I think just a couple more hours. Once that's ready, I'm going to sleep for a whole day or two."

"And I'll be making sure that he does sleep that long and that he doesn't do anything else once he's done. Since we all are pretty much off work until the new library opens in the new year, it's all I have to really worry about and it's what I do."

"How is your sister doing?"

"She's enjoying her time with Joana, when I last spoke to her she said that since I was so comfortable here, she might stay out there longer, probably permanently. She'd send in whatever gift she's seen fit to either make or find for me. I'll do the same for her." Cyrille smiled lightly though he looked back out the window with a soft sigh.

"And the rest of the family?"

"I had a talk with Élodie a few days back, she wanted me to come home because she was lonely and I wouldn't have any of it. I can't give her what she wants anymore, it's not healthy for me. My parents, well they're celebrating somewhere out there though they might be around for New Year's even and I'll see about maybe dropping by at that point, otherwise it's all just stuff I don't want to think about."

"Meal's about ready, let's get everyone settled!"


	26. Starry Night

"Do you like to stargaze?" The question came from Mira, standing on his left, just moments before they were called to the table. Cyrille looked down to the slighter youth a moment and then back up to what little of the sky he could see out of the window.

"There's less lights here, back at my house, the area was so brightly lit that I couldn't even make out the brightest of stars in the sky. There's still plenty of lights out here but they're a lot dimmer so you can see more. I remember, as a kid, when we were out there in the middle of nowhere, that I'd love to just stare up at the sky while I was just flopped out on the ground. It was so dark out there, not a single light, the view was breath-taking. Starry nights are just one of those things we should cherish."

"I don't much recall ever looking up to the sky, guess we were too busy with the rest of everything to really worry about that." Mira shook his head and Cyrille slipped his arms around those shoulders to lead him towards the table.

"If you two don't hurry up, you won't anything to eat!" Eoghan's amused voice came to them as they were entering the dining room.

"You're still putting the food on the table, Eoghan, I don't imagine they'll be missing out on much." Quentin, settled next to Yael, of course, chuckled and Eoghan rolled his eyes, sticking his tongue out as he did. Mira looked briefly between the two and laughed as he settled down into one of the empty seats, Cyrille sitting down between him and Agni, of course.

"And they weren't the last ones to sit down so I think your point isn't valid."

"You guys are all ruining my fun, what did I ever do to the lot of you?"

"You mother us."

"You feed us."

"Gave us a roof."

"Keep us warm."

"And you teach us to be sassy."

"Wait, what? I did not teach any of you to be sassy."

Laughter erupted all around the table as finally, Lex himself sat down at the table.

"So I know that last week I said we were visiting Africa and eating purely African meals but when I saw the watermelon at the store, I couldn't help myself. With the new year coming in, I'd told myself that we'd pick places in the world and we'd find what was native to that area and prepare meals with that but I guess I got us started early. Most everything that's on the table is native to Africa, a few small things here and there aside. Enjoy the meal."

  


It did turn out that the meal was enjoyed by all parties though a few items were requested more than others, as it usually happens. Discussion flowed easily, mostly about what was in that bowl or what was in that one. At least at the beginning of the meal.

"I heard you two talking about stars while you were joining us at the table, want to tell us more about this particular discussion subject? Or why it came up?"

Mira looked up to Cyrille and then back across at Eoghan who did look to be genuinely curious. He shrugged gently. "I just noticed that Cyrille seems to spend a lot of time looking up to the sky in the evenings and I was curious."

"So you watch him."

"What? No! I mean I- no." Mira blushed, the colour burning itself deeply into his cheek and he shook his head. Cyrille laughed, shifting just so under the table, touching their knees as if to comfort him.

"I do stare out the windows a lot. I love looking at the sky. Back at the house, the lights were so bright I couldn't even make out a hint of what was out in the sky, it's a little darker here and I already see so much more. I've always been fascinated with the sky and it's not hard to notice that about me even without watching me."

"Don't tease my brother, Eoghan, that's not nice." Agni managed those words between two bites of the watermelon salad. He'd never had any before in his life but now he was discovering that he might just have to try to make a habit of trying to buy the watermelon itself, it was light and delicious, just a little sweet.

"While I appreciate you defending my, err, honour, Agni, you shouldn't talk with your mouth full." Mira's blush was beginning to lessen now though he still was mostly staring at his plate.

"Can't stop me."

Cyrille lightly bopped Agni on the head. He kept his voice gentle, amused really as he mock-chastised the teen. "Probably can't, you're right but it's not exactly pleasant to see you chew your food this way, close your mouth while you do chew."

Agni blinked and he was the one to blush somewhat this time, he swallowed his bite and mumbled a quiet, "Sorry guys."

"This meal is absolutely delicious, Eoghan, you've outdone yourself again." Yael broke through the amused chuckle of their little gang, Eoghan turning to him with a light nod of his head and a smile at the compliments.

"I've found out that I like discovering new things and I like any chance I get at trying out new recipes and helping others discover new things with their tastebuds."

"And here I thought you mostly liked sausage." All eyes turned to Quentin's innocent—though hardly innocent—face. He blinked all around and grinned brightly. "I'm not even going to apologize for that one, you guys. I spent five years of my life getting to know this guy before I met Yael, so, honestly, I've heard more about certain, particular things than anyone else in this room."

All eyes then turned to Eoghan who blinked, looking baffled more than anything else. Lex was the first one to break the silence, he laughed, the sound bright and clear. Some might have been offended by what was being discussed but he saw no point to taking offence for that kind of thing, it was pointless. It was more amusing than anything else and the thought that Eoghan might have discussed their sex life with the only real friend he might have had during their time apart didn't bother him one little bit.

"All right, let's move away from our personal lives and back to the fact that this is a great meal and that I honestly think I'll be stuffed until way late tomorrow, I might not even be done digesting all of this by then I ate so much." He had eaten more than he usually ate but he blamed the watermelon salad. Anything that had watermelon in it he could hardly keep his hands off. It was a good thing it had been the biggest bowl on the table. While a hot meal would have been nice considering the weather, this mostly cool, with hints of hot meal had been perfect.

"A toast to our masterful chef." He rose his glass, nothing more than carbonated water. They usually kept to non alcoholic drinks during their meals seeing as two of their guests still were underage. No one really complained.

Glasses went up all around, clinking gently together. Eoghan murmured a quiet thank you and the comfortable quiet of a good meal being eaten and appreciated settled on their little group once more.

  


Eventually, when all plates and most bowls were empty, they each got up, moving to get the clean up process started without anyone really having to ask who would help or who was washing the dishes. This had become a community work, almost and everyone helped in their own way, be it through taking dishes into the kitchen, washing them, drying them or putting them back where they belonged in the cupboards. 

Collaborative efforts always did get them to their movies faster, after all.


	27. Boiling Water

Now that all dishes had been washed and leftovers had been packed up and put away, the little group still sat around the table, still trying to decide whether or not they were watching a movie or if they simply were going to spend quiet time just lounging out and about in front of the fireplace.

Eoghan, still in the kitchen, was keeping track of the water, it was almost up to boiling point and he could get coffees, teas and hot cocoas out to those who had requested them.

He stepped out of the kitchen, knowing his kettle would begin to whistle when it was ready. "Have we come to an agreement?"

There were nods all around the tables, a few chuckles here and there and one single shrug though he understood where that shrug came from. He knew Mira had been working nearly non-stop on that blanket he was crocheting for his brother and Eoghan wasn't all that surprised that the youth might have preferred a chance at going to bed at this point, he didn't blame him.

"Well, as soon as the water is ready I'll have the hot drinks out and we can head whichever way we need to. No one has to stay though, I'm looking at you, Mira. We're not forcing anyone to stay and watch a movie or stay and lounge out along by the fireplace. If you'd rather head down to get some rest, no one will hold it against you."

The teenager blinked, a soft frown touching his lips though he shook his head, the frown melting into a slight smile moments later. "I'm tired yes, but we've settled on one movie I've really been meaning to watch and I want to watch it. I know I might honestly fall asleep somewhere in there but at least I'll have caught some of it."

"You're absolutely adorable, Mira."

"Am not."

"Are too." Eoghan stepped back into the kitchen then, Mira huffing softly at not being able to make his point. Eoghan pulled out several cups, knowing he had more than enough water for everyone in his kettle. He prepared one cup after the other, knowing those who wanted tea had the prepared tea bags (hand made with loose leaf) already in hand. 

He located one of his trays, set all cups to it and eased back into the dining room with his last heavy tray of the evening. Cups went out to each person settled around the table and he picked up his own once he was sure that the rest of his group had all they needed on hand. He did try his best to be a good host.

  


As the lights slowly grew in strength after the movie, they began to file out. Armin left first, a wide yawn escaping him as he settled into the elevator and went down to his floor to get back to his bed so he could curl under the cold blankets and make sure they warmed up quickly enough so he'd stop being chilled.

Quentin and Yael stayed a few more moments, helping with the finally bits of clean up. Cyrille stepped out just moments after Agni, a sleeping Mira tucked into his arms and against his chest. "Wonderful meal and good movie, thank you, Eoghan. All of this, it's so different from what I've known all my life but it feels like home, I have no words to thank each and every one of you for that."

Eoghan smiled, mussing Mira's head gently. "There are no thank yous to be given, Cyrille. We're just a tight knit group of people who do what we can to make our lives easier and we just keep track of one another. Make sure this one gets more sleep, he looked like he could have fallen asleep in his plate a couple of times during the meal."

"I'll try, he's been working really hard on his project but I know he's almost done, so he'll get a lot of sleep after that."

"You three have a good night now."

"G'night guys." Agni called out quietly as they stepped out. He looked between the elevator and the stairs and opted for the elevator. He knew well enough he could have taken the stairs and Cyrille would have managed too, even with his brother fast asleep in those arms but he didn't really want to chance it.

"What has he been working on anyway? He won't let me in his room and he refuses to tell me anything about it. I could help him if he'd let me."

"Agni, if he could let you help him, he would. I'm pretty sure one of whatever he's working on is for you, so letting you help him would be a bit of a moot point. I know how far along he is and I know that he's just a couple of hours away from being done, at the rate I've seen him work, tomorrow, I try to keep him in bed for a while longer and he can finish up in the afternoon and then he'll be gift-making free for a while."

"All right, though I still feel a little left out."

"Sorry, Agni. I'm sure he doesn't mean to make you feel that way."

  


"They're growing up so quickly. I mean, I suppose I could have said that if I'd known them longer but I feel as though I've known them forever, they've changed so much from the meek, frightened boys we met when we were doing the rounds around the warehouse while it was still being renovated."

"Eoghan, they'd never known anything else but the street and their sister. The fact that she hadn't tried to teach them the language just adds to the whole thing, they didn't speak a word of the language, they more than likely didn't understand it either. It was surprising they'd done so well so far. They've adapted quickly to our life as it is now and I don't think we could really change anything. I mean, other than how she's wandered off and walked away from them but that's out of our hands."

"You think she might come back?"

Lex shrugged lightly as he looped one arm about Eoghan's waist, walking with him towards their bedroom now that all of their guests had gone on their way. "She might, she might not. If she does, she'll have to move into another apartment because I don't imagine the twins telling Cyrille to move out so she can move back in."

"I don't think she's a bad person, you know."

"I don't think any one of us think she's a bad person. She's just struggled all of her life to raise her kid brothers, living out in the street, protecting them and now that there is some normalcy with all of their lives, she's found someone to love. She did try to get them to move in with her and the guy so she didn't really want to completely abandon them here, it just happened. I believe they're better off here as it is."

"So we're not bad people for having kept them here with us."

"We're not bad people. Eoghan, it's almost Christmas, gifts and decorations and even more time spent together, this is a time for celebration, not for feeling poorly about decisions that were mostly out of our hands."

"Why do we even celebrate? We know he's not real."

"I think it's the commercialization of it and I think we're mostly doing it so we can decorate the place prettily and you can spoil ever single one of our friends, they all need it in a bad way, think of it as a valid excuse to give them extra stuff." "I don't usually need an excuse to give them stuff."

"I know, but this is a valid excuse and it should be appreciated, that's all."

"Okay, all right. I guess you have a point and this place is pretty when it's all decorated this way."

"I'm glad you think so, now come on, time for some sleep."


	28. Africa

"Now I want to visit Africa." Yael hugged his coat tighter to himself, tugging the scarf a little higher on his nose as they moved out of the ever warm building, across the driveway, the yard and towards their own building. It was a short trek but it still was cold out and he didn't much care to be outside for much longer than was necessary.

"Yael, you want to visit the whole world."

"Well, of course I do but and I can't help it, I just want to discover everything myself. You have to admit that Eoghan's meal preparations were quite something."

"What I admit is that I had never tasted almost everything that had been on those plates and it was all surprisingly very good."

"This coming from the guy who does have issues trying new things he's never even heard about."

"I'm not that picky."

"You're not, I'm just teasing. Let's head inside, I'm freezing."

It was the one downside to being the ones one to live in a different buildings, they had go to through whatever the weather was flinging at them to get to and back from the meal and movie though it didn't even take them a minute to cross from point A to point B.

When they stepped inside, they stamped snow off of their boots and shrugged out of their coats. They hung them up to dry and let the warmth of the inner foyer sink in. Once they'd taken off ever winter related items, they slipped into the house proper, making sure that there were no kittens in the in-between. They closed and locked the door.

"China, Africa, Japan, oh, the Netherlands!" Yael laughed as he rubbed his hands together gentle, bringing warmth to his fingers somewhat. He'd forgotten to take his gloves along though Quentin himself hadn't and Yael was more than a little glad for that. Quentin's fingers were important, more important than his own though he knew he couldn't manage to do most of what he did now if he'd lost those fine, slightly bony fingers of his.

"In a couple of decades, we'll visit the world. Just the two of us, just a backpack each and nothing else to accompany us. We'll find places to stay, we'll work along the way, we'll discover the world as it was meant to be discovered: with the people. "Short version, we'll try not to be tourists?"

"Something like that." They shared a soft laugh as they stepped from the living room, the fireplace empty and cold though it was only an additional source of heat they didn't necessarily need. They stepped into their bedroom and Yael went around the bed to flick the switch on for their electric blanket. 

It was just one of those things, sliding between cold sheets tended to shove him right back to alertness and he had all the issues in the world falling back asleep after that. He knew Quentin appreciated the comfort of pre-warmed sheets, too. "What would be sad though, is that by the time we're ready to explore, some of these places might no longer exist."

"Yael, the world has been as it is for a long time, I can't imagine that in two decades, some places will have disappeared altogether though I'm aware that it could happen. With the speed at which technology grows, we might even have virtual realities by then and we could probably visit the world without leaving the living room. Personally I think that's just lame but if some places do go under, so to speak, it could be an option."

"I guess you're right. I just worry about the world."

"You always worry about the world, that's just how your mind works."

"Sorry."

"Nope, no apologizing, there's no reason for that, I adore your mind and the body attached to it and the emotions that come with it and everything else." That seemed to get a laugh out of Yael and he shook his head. 

"The bed is going to need a little bit to warm up, I don't like the blanket being too warm at once I'm always afraid it'll catch on fire or something. We have some time."

"A steam would be nice?"

"A steam would actually be pretty nice, my fingers still are cold, I forgot my gloves and the air out there is frigid."

  


A steam did turn out to be absolutely what they were needing. Just enough time for the blanket to do its job and warm up the bed, just right to finish thawing Yael's fingers and for the two of them to relax completely.

When they stepped out of their steam shower, they both wrapped themselves up in their thick terry bathrobe, the material warmed up just so thanks to the heater they were hanging by.

They quietly made their way back to the bedroom and as they each eased between the now warm sheets, wiggling their feet to find comfortable spots between sleeping cats—they always did take to sleeping on the bed when the blanket was warming it up—Quentin tugged a bit on their curtains, settling a semi-darkness about them in the bed.

"What do you think the world is like out there? I've heard Eoghan talk a bit about all of his traveling but I can't really manage to imagine myself out there with him. I suppose I really have to experience it myself to be able to close my eyes and imagine it all again. I can imagine my wandering from Beauvais up to Dunkerque but that's about it. It's all the life experience I have with being out there in the world."

Offering his arm, Quentin settles against his pillows, Yael moving to nestle against him just so. This was their way, this was how they were the most comfortable and that wouldn't change any time soon.

"We'll travel when we can, Yael. We'll discover the world together and we'll make memories. I don't really care if you have world experience or not. I have experience myself and it wasn't all that unpleasant but it isn't experience I gained because I wanted to. I just wanted out of the world I was in and I did all I could to manage that much."

"At times I wish I could go back in time and keep you from being snatched away as a child."

"Considering that I'm older than you, I don't know how that would even work out. Plus, I might not be here now and today if I hadn't lived through what I have as a child. I'm not happy with my childhood but I have you here with me now, I'm not really going to change that and I wouldn't want our lives to be any different than what they are now."

"I'm glad."

"Now just close your eyes and dream of places you'd love to visit. We've watched so many documentaries about so many places on the planet, I'm pretty sure it can't be too complicated to manage that one. If I can, I'll join you in the usual dream and we'll go from there. It's not quite world traveling but we're managing at least that much, mm?"

Yael laughed softly against his shoulder. He closed his eyes, huddling a little closer. He was warm now, toasty really but anything he could do to make sure he was as close as possible to Quentin while they slept, he did. At times he dreamed that he was one with the other though those dreams rarely were innocent.

"Let's dream of Africa." The words were murmured against the top of Yael's head, they earned a soft sigh, a note of content before the quietness of their home settled on them and the few cats settled comfortably on the heated blanket.

Life was far from perfect but to them, every day was a new adventure and a new learning experience, it was all that really mattered, in the long run.


	29. The Phone is Ringing

Something was ringing.

It was ringing loudly and it was annoying the hell out of him. He really was trying to focus on catching the butterfly that had landed on- he was out in the wild forest of he couldn't tell where, why was there something ringing?

Groaning, Cyrille rolled over on his bed, one hand reaching out blindly along his bedside table for the ringing offender. His hands found several things, most of them hitting the ground as he swept his hand about to try to find the phone, it had to be his phone. He barely paid attention to whatever it was he was throwing to the ground, that didn't really matter, it wasn't even important.

Eventually, his fingers curled about the slim object and he brought it closer. He rolled over and stared at the screen. A number he didn't recognize sat there as it kept on ringing, as if taunting him, as if telling him that he had to wake up now even though it was way too early to be awake.

He stared at the phone for another long moment before he answered it.

"Hello?"

_"Congratulations, you've won a trip for t-"_ Click.

He dropped the phone back somewhere on his bedside table and he rolled back over, hugging his pillow over his head to try to ignore the light beginning to filter through his curtains. He wanted to still be asleep, he wanted to still be far away into the world of dreams. He was sure he'd been having a wonderful dream though he couldn't even remember what it had been about now.

After a few heartbeats during which sleep proved to be absolutely elusive, he sat up and rubbed his eyes. He turned his gaze to the other beside table and squinted at the numbers on there. Six fifteen. Way too early. Even if he'd had work, he wouldn't have been up this early. 

"Bah."

He knew he wouldn't be getting any more sleep at this point so he did the only thing he could think of. He went into his bathroom, had himself a nice, hot shower and dressed. He stepped into the living room, book in hand and started reading. Cyrille knew better than to wake the twins, Mira especially. He needed all the sleep he could get and staying as quiet as possible was the one necessary step to this.

After a couple of hours, Agni joined him in the living room, still rubbing his eyes and still wearing his bathrobe, something they'd all taken to wearing late at night or early in the mornings when the air still felt chilly.

"You've been awake long?" He blinked, rubbing his eyes again. Cyrille made a soft shush noise, looking down the hallway. Agni followed his gaze before he nodded and rounded the couch to flop down on it. He was hungry but he could wait a little while more yet. 

"Couple of hours, my phone was ringing this morning, I swear I'd turned it off or at least set it on vibrate but it rang loud and clear. So I answered it, got myself a scam call and that was it. I tried falling back asleep, couldn't. So I just washed up and came out here to read."

"That stinks. Think we can get away with preparing some food without waking up?"

"Well I can check his door to make sure it's shut and I'm sure that so long as we keep the noise to a minimum we should manage something, I am starting to feel pretty hungry at this point, I admit." He chuckled softly, not daring to laugh by fear of waking Mira. 

"M'kay, I'll go see what we can prepare that doesn't require a lot of fussing about and you do the check up on mister hand-made gifts grumpy pants."

"He's just trying to give you and the rest of us something he's made with love, don't be childish, Agni."

"Sorry, sorry." He shrugged, heading off into the kitchen to check on what they might have on hand as far as food was required while Cyrille carefully made his way back towards Mira's open bedroom door. He peeked in a moment and his almost maternal side took over as he noticed that the teen had kicked off most of his blankets.

Keeping as quiet as he could, he stepped inside and closer. He moved to cover Mira with his blankets once more and refrained from kissing his forehead though it was tempting. He smiled down at the sleeping down and tip-toed back towards the door.

"What's for breakfast?"

Cyrille froze in the doorway, a soft sigh escaping him. "Aw hell, Mira, I was just trying to cover you back up so you'd be warm, I'm sorry I woke you."

"I woke up a while ago, I think I heard your phone ringing. I rolled over and settled against, I think I was in-between when you did the tucking in."

"Shit. I'm sorry about the phone, it woke me up too and I was sure I'd turned it off for the night. How are you feeling?"

Mira shrugged gently and Cyrille stepped back inside, sitting on the edge of the bed. He reached out, brushing his thumb ever gently along the underside of Mira's eyes. 

"Still a little sleepy but I'm okay. I fell asleep in the middle of the movie last night, huh?"

"More like after the first fifteen minutes you were out like a rock. Even during a few of the louder moments you didn't even budge, it was actually pretty cute in its own way."

Mira rolled his eyes and yawned. He looked out towards his windows a moment and then to his alarm clock. "It's still early, I guess I could try sleeping again but I don't know that I'd manage. That and I'm honestly hungry."

"Well Agni is trying to see what we can prepare for breakfast, we were going to try for something really quiet so we didn't wake you. I guess we can see about whatever we want at this point, you ready to get up?"

Cyrille went to the back of that bedroom door, taking the bathrobe that hung there in hands. He walked back to the bed as Mira stretched and got out of it. The robe was settled on those shoulders and Mira tightened it securely about his waist. "Thanks for trying to let me sleep, Cy, I really appreciate it."

"You needed it, you do look a tiny bit better than yesterday, I'm sure if you get done with the project today, you'll finally be able to get more sleep than you've been getting and we can all appreciate that. Agni is starting to feel a bit left out, he's wondering what you've been doing and why you haven't asked for his help. I told him some of what you were working on was for him and you very well couldn't ask for his help. I didn't tell him what it was and it seemed to be enough for him."

"Thanks."

With a nod, Cyrille walked back to the door, looking back to Mira to make sure the teen was following him. They stepped out and then to the kitchen. "Looks like he's awake so we can prepare the usual if we feel like it."

"Thank goodness, I was looking through all we had and the only non-noisy stuff we could have prepared was cereal and that's the last thing I feel like eating right now. I could do with watermelon though."

"Looks like someone's found a new favourite food for a while. I don't know if we could even find watermelon at the store but we could look, it wouldn't hurt. I can prepare us some eggs while you guys get some toast done?"

"Egg sounds fine, thank you Cy."

"You're so polite lately, it's weird, Mira."

"I'm just trying to be nice, Agni."

"Let's not get started on this, guys. We all need a good breakfast before any arguing about niceness starts, so bread on one side and eggs on mine, yes?"

"Yeah."

"All right, let's have ourselves some breakfast."


	30. Street People

"So we'd be a bit like street people, just not on the street because we have no other choices but because that's what we chose." They'd been looking over those pages of places to visit for a few hours now, looking at a big map that had been set up against one of the empty walls in the family room. They had set little markers, pins to all the places they absolutely wanted to visit.

"I guess it's one way to look at it. We could live out of expensive hotels and make sure we have all we need but I don't think we'd really get the kind of travelling we're trying to achieve." Quentin looked down at their side by side notebook, chuckling softly at the sight of it all Here they were, plotting out a trip around the world and it wouldn't happen for at least another decade or two. It really depended on how well and healthy their cats were and how long their beautiful lives would keep them about. They had no desire to rush that.

"If we travel like tourists, we'll be treated like tourist. If we try to blend in though I know it'll be hard in a few different places, we might just be treated differently." He nodded, turning his gaze to the map after a moment. "I've been a street person, it's not exactly a pleasant way of life though I suppose it depends on who lived it and how they lived that life. As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't pleasant and I'm just glad I managed to get off the street and into a house. I'm aware that if it hadn't been for that old man, I would still have been out there, like you I guess, and we probably wouldn't even have met."

"I'm glad you found him, helped him and that you found me then." Yael closed his notebook, stretching with a soft yawn as he did. "My life on the street was not exactly a good one and I know I wasn't about to last much longer with the way things were going."

It had taken some getting used to and a lot of writing in his journals once he'd moved from the street to his new home, some would have claimed that he could have done with some therapy with someone for how easily some things set off his nightmares but he would claim that he handles whatever comes his way well enough, there really wasn't a reason to involve someone else into his private life this way.

"Tired?"

"A little, I think it's all the sorta darkness. All these clouds, they make it hard to know what time it is and I feel almost as if I have the blues, it's really weird. I mean, it's not my first winter here with you but it feels as though this one is darker, I know it's just the weather, I guess I can't help it." He shrugged, offering a sheepish sort of smile.

It was dark outside, the sky was covered in what seemed to be several layers of heavy snow-filled clouds that just weren't ready to let go of their cargo. It had been dark out when they'd woken up and it still was dark out now, as if nothing might manage to break through the thick cover over their heads. Not that either one of them wanted more snow, what they had now was enough though more wouldn't have hurt and it certainly would have helped the temperature to warm up somewhat.

"How about we had up to the garden and have ourselves a hammock nap?"

"And a few more sunburns?" Yael chuckled at the idea though he closed the other notebook and stretched with another yawn as he eased to his feet.

"I suppose there is that downside. We could set up an alarm clock?"

"Or we could go up to the mezzanine on the third and settle with a blanket up there. It's not as toasty as the hammock but it is as comfortable and the view is beautiful, fewer chances of sunburns."

Quentin nodded, that did seem like a good idea. A good, heavy blanket since the temperature was a little cooler up on the third floor compared to the garden floor and they could rest for a while, watch the clouds and see if they might get more snow or not out of them. The weatherman had only mentioned the heavy cover, not the snow fall.

"I'll let you get the blanket and I'll put all of this away, I'll meet back up with you by the stairs unless you want to go up first."

"I can wait for you."

It was Yael's turn to nod as he watched Quentin step from the family room, head off towards their bedroom where they kept all of their blankets. They could have gone for the pool as well, the thought hadn't crossed his mind. It had actually been some time since they'd last been in the pool. They kept the water to a comfortably warm temperature so he didn't see why not.

He took a moment to put away their pencils and notebooks, into a small dresser of sorts that sat against the wall under the map. Once that was done he wandered off to meet up with his companion. 

Yael found Quentin still digging through the large chest at the foot of the bed. "I had a thought, why don't we have a swim instead? It's been a while. Of course we don't have a view of outside but that might just be for the best. We can forget how cloudy it is for a while and have some relaxing time nonetheless."

Quentin stopped digging, looking up to Yael as he did. He tilted his head to the side, a thoughtful motion that always made Yael smile. "Been a while since we've done more than have a brief dip in the pool, hasn't it?"

Quite a while, usually their 'dip' was a slip in, swim one length and get out sort of thing, mostly so they wouldn't feel as though they weren't using the pool at all. It seemed pointless to have a pool if you didn't use it. "Sounds like a plan, let's change and head there."

While they still had no issues with swimming bare, it seemed easier to swim with a bathing suit on in winter. It wasn't that the temperature in the pool area was cooler, it was kept as warm as the rest of the house but there always remained that little bit of a chill when they got out of the pool since they kept the water a little warmer in the winter.

They each stepped to their dresser, digging about to find their bathing suit. Once found, they changed where they stood, used to being bared around one another. They located their fluffiest towel, set those about their shoulders and headed off towards the pool area all the way to the back of their home.

"Think the boys might try to jump in for a swim?" Yael hung his towel up, shivering briefly before he stepped towards the pool.

"They just might but that's fine, they do have their own small pool off to the side and if they want to jump in the bigger one, I know they can swim just fine." He'd left the door ajar, their two bigger felines loved to swim and took to the water at any given chance though they had taken to using their 'own' personal little pool instead of the big one after a bit of teaching.

"A few lap to warm up, then we just float around to relax or do we bring out the mattress?"

"I think a few laps to warm up and then the mattress would be fine, though I'd be good with just floating around with a few pool noodles, I wouldn't be able to stay close to you."

"You're just trying to make me blush."

"And it works every time, Yael though I'm honest. I like being near you when we're in the water so a few laps and the mattress sound perfect."

"All set, then."


End file.
